


Fog of War

by Keith-Ko-totally-gay-ne (Wolfygamer29)



Series: Blue Rock (working title) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), F/M, Fighting, Friends to Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), I think I just made that up but its a tag now, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, klance, part 1 of a series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-30 17:53:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10881936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfygamer29/pseuds/Keith-Ko-totally-gay-ne
Summary: Something is wrong between the red and blue paladins, and the rest of the team is suffering.Meanwhile, Keith's anger and state of mind are leading the paladins of Voltron towards certain death.(Updates will be... sporadic. I am a mess of a man and I apologize sincerely.)***Not A Chapter Update*** Check "first" chapter.





	1. Not A Chapter 3/18

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first publicized fic, and really my first Klance fic that got past the first two paragraphs.
> 
> Let me know of any mistakes, spelling or grammar, and I'll fix them if I missed any.
> 
> I don't now how often I'll be updating, but let's hope for at least once a week.

Blue Rock (Which... may not even stay the title, after all, it is a working title) as a series, and therefor Fog of War as well, is gonna be **completely** rewritten because I just... I hated the way it was. Basically, my original plan was to rewrite what I had written of Fog of War, and complete chapter 7 before posting it. Then I was looking at the plot holes in what I had written... then at the plot holes the rest of the plot had... and realized I hated everything about it and wanted to rewrite it. In short, I'm not rewriting these chapters, I'm rewriting Blue Rock altogether in a million and one ways. It's still similar just... much different. So basically, everything I posted up to this point will be scrapped, but like, it's still all gonna happen sort of... depending on what stays and what goes as far as plot goes. I don't know when exactly the "first" chapter of Fog of War will be uploaded, which may or may not include most if not almost all of what happened here, and possibly more than what happened because I like long ass chapters now, but I honestly haven't gotten that far yet, because I'm waiting until Voltron has come all the way out. Every time a new season comes out, so do new characters and  new canon information I hadn't originally included in the plot, and every time I immediately fall in love with those characters and canon tidbits and want to write about them, so I try and come up with some way to include them in the plot.

Honestly, I'm a much different person than when I was when I originally started brainstorming Blue Rock. I write much differently, first off, and the way I plot things is even completely different. Looking at what I had planned for Blue Rock was like looking at a stranger's ramblings, basically. I still love this story and it's plot, in some ways, and I'm still too invested in it to abandon it, however, it's gonna be a long time before you will see a new chapter.

Thank you for still caring I guess and Do y'all think I should keep up everything posted as of now until I have something new to post, or would you care if this was the only thing up?

This is very awkward for me, tbh, I never thought my terrible terrible inability to complete things and be satisfied with them would result in me apologizing to possibly one or more strangers on the internet.


	2. Tension

The paladins of Voltron had defeated Zarkon, the tyrant king of the universe, but the empire left behind him did not crumble. Leaderless, it was weaker, but it still covered nearly the entire universe. During the battle that brought Zarkon down, Shiro, the black paladin, vanished from the inside of his lion. The paladins had opened up the cockpit to find his bayard still locked in place, but no paladin to wield it. The lion itself was off, no lights or movement, and they had to drag it back to the castle amidst the debris of the fight. The paladins had fled the battlefield after that, all to their dismay. They could not stay any longer or they risked more fleets arriving, and could not search the area for Shiro any longer.

Keith assumed the role of the black paladin, following the desires of the former one. The black lion had accepted him, but their bond was weak and vulnerable. Though he could form Voltron, he had none of the powers that Shiro could use. The lion itself seemed to tolerate Keith as it’s pilot, but he could feel that it was only letting him pilot it because Shiro wanted it. He felt no bond with the Lion, no bond stronger than what he needed to connect with the other lions. Allura took the red lion and experienced the same. The red lion was still bonded to Keith, and it was impatient with Allura. Though they were not useless; without Shiro, Voltron was much weaker.

After that, the paladins set to work hunting for Shiro. However, the remainder of the empire had continued to fight back. There was a surprising number of deserters from the Galra empire once their side had begun to weaken, but the empire's numbers were still strong. Most of the Galra were still loyal to Zarkon and fought back even stronger. It was the blades of Marmora who instigated a rebellion amongst the empire, which helped out Voltron as the paladins began cleanup work. As they hunted for Shiro, they had begun a “Spring cleaning!” as Coran had put it during a meeting after the discovery of Shiro’s disappearance, with his customary mustache twirl.

The group had begun following the distress beacons the castle had received. Due to its age, as well as the residual corruption from the Galra crystal, the dates of the beacons were often corrupted and often times they would arrive at a long ago abandoned site. Sometimes they found nothing but centuries old debris fields of what once was a planet; Other times, they found modern galra occupied work camps, but more often than not, all they would find would be simply nothing at all. No sign of there having once been a civilization thriving with people, no sign of their worlds or their people. Each beacon they responded to seemed worse than the last.

Now, the paladins were staring down in horror upon a Galra occupied planet, but that wasn’t the worst part. When they had chosen to follow the beacon, the castle had it recorded as a planet named Gornus, one that Coran had fondly remembered as “The most beautiful place in the entire universe.” He spoke of forests of colors and strange creatures, even for alien creatures. He told stories of going down into the caverns, “The walls were like looking at the universe, it’s hard to explain really. I can not wait to see them again!” he had recalled fondly, but what they found was anything but.

The Paladins stared down at the planet from the control room, a stunned silence falling over them. It was stomach turning. There were no forests of colors, just black, molten stone. No creatures but the Galra who patrolled the purple stations that jutted out from the planet. On the molten surface were mining drills that ate away at the planet. By the looks of it, the Galra had been mining that planet for a long time.

Coran stared wordlessly at the screen, his shoulders slumped and both hands firmly placed on the control desk to steady himself. Allura gazed, wide and teary eyed at the sight, her hands clamped over her mouth as she tried to steady her breathing before she could start crying. The other four paladins shook their heads in dismay, they had been centuries too late. Though they knew there was nothing they could have done, they couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Keith, as the new black paladin, and head of Voltron began to strategize an attack plan to take the planet from Galra rule, even if there was nothing left to save. He wanted that fleet to be destroyed for what happened to that planet. When he pulled the team together and told them of his strategy, they all agreed to it, except Lance. He refused the plan straight away, saying there was no point in wasting energy on that planet, which the Galra appeared ready to abandon. It was lifeless, bare, and the mining drills had eaten it down to a dwarf. Lance looked Keith in the eye, challenging him, his voice accusatory, “The only reason you want this battle is so you can take out your anger about Shiro. That is what you’ve been doing the last five beacons we found,” He doesn’t budge under the stare Keith gave him, it was a stare of fury, but Lance ignores it and continued speaking, “The last five beacons we found were nothing worth saving. I agree that we should be fighting the Galra as much as possible, but you’re going too far with some of this, your plan will put us in unnecessary danger, especially with your weak bond with the black lion. You only want a fight, not to help anyone.

“You’re being rash right now. Last time Pidge was almost killed, did you forget that?” Lance returned the look Keith was giving him, Pidge shifting uncomfortably at being dragged into it.

No one jumped in between the two, the tension between the two friends had been coming to a head ever since Shiro had vanished. Truthfully, Keith was the one at fault, and he knew it as he clenched his fists, grinding his teeth in anger at Lance. He was being rash, he knew he was just looking for a fight, but right then it didn’t matter. Lance was infuriating ever since Shiro disappeared, always arguing with Keith’s decisions. Sure, most of the time he had a point, but it still pissed Keith off. He wanted to punch Lance in the face to get him to be quiet for one goddamn second. He was so good at getting on his nerves. Keith knew Lance was right, but ever since the battle with Zarkon, he saw red everywhere he went. He wanted to tear the empire apart to find Shiro.

Lance was just as irritable, but it was only Keith who could set him off. He was the voice of reason, trying to guide Keith out of his stupid decisions, but the black paladin was so resistant, and that pissed Lance off. He wanted to take Keith by the shoulders and shake him until he started thinking right, he wanted to punch some sense into him. It was so infuriating, and he could tell the others wanted to back him up, but they were too cautious of Keith. Lance wasn’t. Lance didn’t care what Keith did or said, he just wanted the boy to act like a paladin and listen to him and the team.

Right now, though, the team remained silent, exchanging nervous glances between each other. They knew that there is nothing stopping it at this point. They didn’t want a fight to break out, but it was clear that no matter what they said, their anger would only escalate. The 4 of them slunk backwards away from the two paladins who were now getting closer to one another, their words angry and challenging.

Keith seethed as he marched around the table towards Lance. It took all of his energy to not punch him right in the jaw. He was visibly shaking as he stopped, less than a foot away from the lanky paladin, hissing his words out between clenched teeth, “We cannot let any Galra we find survive,” He gestured to the screens showing the planet, “And these ones deserve it. Look at what they’ve done to this planet, and you still tell me that we should leave them alone? You’re always telling me to think like a paladin, well I am. Our goal is to eradicate the Galra empire.”

Lace rolled his eyes in disgust, “Our goal is to protect the universe, not to kill people, Keith. I’m not saying we ignore them, but right now, with your weak link with Black, you will be putting us all in danger by having us face a fleet,” He stepped even closer, making a point to invade on Keith’s personal space, “You’re bloodthirsty, it’s disgusting. What would Shiro think of you, if he were here?”

At that, the there was silence. The team stared at Lance, whose eyes were glued on Keith's face. Keith was frozen. His eyes were wide, his body tense as Lance’s words hit him. The moment only lasted for a second, and then he was on top of Lance, punching, and swinging and the blue paladin returned each hit. It was almost comical, how childish they looked wrestling on the ground. It would have been funny if not for the venomous words they spat at each other. With each hit, there was a new insult, and each insult got worse and worse.

At one point, blood had been drawn, though, from who, the team could not tell. Allura and Hunk grabbed hold of the paladins, with Hunk wrapping his arms around Lance from behind, pinning his arms to his sides as he spat and hissed at Keith. Keith was strong, but Allura was stronger, barely making an effort to hold him back as she knelt on the ground behind him, his arms twisted behind his back.

The two barely acknowledge their restraints, kicking and squirming, trying to get another hit in on the other. Lance was relentless, going as far and to kick Hunk with the back of his foot, trying to get the yellow paladin to release him. The four team members shared worried and frightened looks as the two howled at each other like wild animals.

Suddenly, it seemed as though something clicked out of place in the two fighter’s heads and Lance stilled, glaring down at Keith, who ceased moving to look up with a similar expression. As Lance spoke, his words came out quietly, but they were powerful nonetheless. They weren’t spoken like he was just angry, like the rest of his insults. It was spoken with purpose; in a venomous tone so unlike Lance, it sent shivers down everyone’s spine, but Keith was frozen as he watched the tan lips form the words, “You’re just like any other Galra, aren’t you?”

There was silence. Keith remained where he knelt, even after Allura hesitantly released him from her hold. His eyes glued to Lance, who stared back down at him. There was nothing, as no one dared to speak. All eyes were on the two paladins, Hunk had released Lance as well. Lance walked slowly, stiffly, up to Keith, reaching down and gripping the collar of his armor. He lifted the black paladin to his feet, still staring downwards at the shorter paladin with a calm look that caused anxiety to cast itself over the rest of the group, but Keith simply stared back blankly, though his eyes were still wide. They stared at each other before Keith turned his head, looking away and at the plans he had stretched out on the table next to them.

When he turned back to look at the blue paladin, he had a look of nothing but pure hatred on his face, “Maybe I am,” he hissed. With that, he turned from the taller boy, eyes locked on the screens showing the planet, “My plan still stands. If we have to do this without Voltron, we will, if any of you disagree with my plan, you’re free to stay behind, but I will not let any Galra troops pass by us, under any condition.”

\---

The paladins stood around the table, Coran observing the fleet surrounding Gorngus. After what happened, no one dared say anything. Not even Allura dared to speak about it. They listened to Keith’s words, but they unconsciously found themselves huddled at the other end of the table from the two boys. They had turned into wild animals as soon as the first hit had landed. They were both beat up; Lance held a cloth to his nose as he attempted to stop the bleeding, meanwhile, Keith’s face was purple and bruised. His lip was also bleeding, and he held the back of his gloved hand to it. The way they had spoken to each other and looked at each other was what kept the group away, though. It was bone chilling; like something had taken over the two of them and they were no longer the same Lance and Keith as before. The team was truly frightened of their friends, but they silently agreed they would do whatever they could to keep the two from ripping out each other’s throats until they could figure out what was happening.

Lance stood behind Keith, eyes glued to the back of his head and one thumb lying on his lips as he chewed on the nail. He had agreed to join them, eventually, deciding at the very least he wouldn’t let the fool of a leader they now had lead his teammates into death. He was lost in thought, not paying attention to a single word of the plan. Did he regret the words he said? Somewhere, deep in his mind, he felt guilt. But lately if felt as though something had snapped inside the two paladins. Ever since Shiro vanished and Keith became the black paladin, the two had been gradually becoming angrier and angrier, less and less like themselves. It was like a fog had fallen over the minds of both of the paladins. Keith had been the one to show it first, and soon it caught onto Lance, whatever ‘it’ was.

It couldn’t be stress, the team knew that now. There was something truly wrong with their friends, but they were too scared to speak up about it. Even Coran remained silent as he occasionally glanced back at the table, eyebrows pinched together in a look of concern.

Truthfully, no one wanted to follow Keith’s plan, but they had to follow him anyways. They knew he would not back down even if he had to do it alone, and that would be suicide, so they were going to follow him. He was just stubborn like that, and they knew it well. They had to, at the very least, keep him in one piece. He was their friend, not just their leader, and no matter was wrong with him, he was still Keith and they would protect him. Hunk had whispered to the others that they should try and restrain the two and just leave without engaging the fleet, but the hollow look in Keith's eyes as he stared down at the notes he had splayed in front of him was enough to stop them from approaching him.

Few words were swapped between the paladins as they climbed into their lions. Coran, on the comms, informed the paladins that he would have to lower the invisibility cloak in order to open the hangers, but he would turn them back on as soon as the lions were out, and he would watch from afar. Though effective in an emergency, the castle defenses were still on the fritz after the battle with Zarkon, and it was best the castle remained hidden unless it was needed.

As they waited for Coran to position the castle out of sight of any Galra fleets so he could drop the cloak, Keith's voice rang through the helmets, “I am going to repeat the plan one last time. Allura, you and Pidge are to make your way down to the planet once Hunk creates a diversion. Hunk, I don’t care how you do it, but you keep the focus of the fleet so Pidge and Allura can make their way to one of the massive stations on the planet's surface. Pidge, once you get there, Allura and you will find any information that might pertain to Shiro’s location. Don’t waste too much time looking for your family, this time around,” In the green lion, Pidge winced but said nothing, “Lance, you take care of the drones and smaller fighters while Hunk distracts the big guys. When the fighters are out and we have all the information Allura and Pidge can gather, we will form Voltron and bring down the battleships. Do not forget, we are not leaving survivors”

There was a moment of quiet as the team flinched at the last part. Their hands were not blood free, but there was something about the way he said ‘leave no survivors’, and they realized what it meant. There was to be no mercy, not if this twisted version of their Keith could help it.

“And what are you doing?” Came the snarky reply from the blue lion that broke the silence. It wasn’t Lance’s usual joking manner, but a more sinister version, his voice laced with a threatening tone, like he was looking to start more trouble with the black paladin.

Keith bristled at the sound of the blue paladin’s voice, but he responded calmly, “I will be climbing on board the biggest. It looks like one of those prison ships, and I will be searching it for any signs of Shiro.”

“Alone?” This time it was Hunks turn to speak up, a worried tone to his voice.

Keith merely grunted an affirmative, and Coran’s voice came back over the comms, “We are in position for me to drop the shields.” There was a pause as he did just that, and soon the hangar doors were open and the paladins flew out, splitting into their own directions.

Hunk got the attention of the fleet first, as was planned. Within seconds of him coming into their view, they were already firing. The yellow lion was not known for speed, but armor, and though he ducked and weaved through the lasers, he couldn’t avoid all of them. As he took the hits, he prayed for the whole thing to be over with. The last few months under the leadership of Keith, in this state he was in, were almost hellish. No mercy was his policy, and the paladins wanted nothing more than to find out what was wrong with their friends, but it was impossible under the scrutinizing glare of Keith. He always seemed to be watching them, like he, or whatever was causing this, didn’t want them to fix it.

Pidge and Allura made their way down to the planet's surface, avoiding the fleets and making sure to stay out of the line of site of the stations on the surface of the planet, which wasn’t hard, as it seemed like there weren’t many Galra down in the stations, and the droids were less attentive than usual. They noted that something felt wrong about the atmosphere of the whole situation, something more than just Keith and Lance’s states of mind. Perhaps connected to it, though. The two felt a shiver run down their spines. The whole place seemed off, something nagging at them that they had gotten into the station too easily.

They shrugged off the thoughts, ducking behind a pillar as the sound of metal feet rounded a corner.They had no time to stop and think about things, they had to find the information and get out. Keith had made it very clear that he would continue with the plan regardless of whether or not everyone has finished their part if they took too long. Pidge ad Allura shared a look of anxiety as they made their way down the hall, stopping behind another pillar as Pidge began looking for a map of the station by hacking into a panel on a door they stopped by.

It was then that Pidge spoke up as she tapped away on the screen projecting from her wrist, “What do you think is wrong with them? Lance and Keith?”

Allura sighed, shaking her head and responding back with a whisper, “I do not know, Pidge. At first is was just Keith, but now Lance has been starting to act the same as well-” She trailed off, turning her head as she heard the set of another set of feet approach, “Hurry, they’re coming!” She whispered frantically.

Pidge closed out of the projection and the two bolted around the corner. Once there, Pidge brought up the map schematics she had downloaded, silently indicating to Allura for her to follow as they took another turn, The boys had to wait, they had to get the information and get out before Keith got impatient.

\---

General Mouzlauv stomped down the hallway, two sentries at his sides. A guard walked ahead of him. Mouzlauv spoke up, and as the guard turned to face him, he thought he saw something vanish around the corner, but he shook his head, ignoring it, “So, you have informed Haggar that the paladins have come?” His voice was not loud, but it was powerful. He was one of the most powerful generals in the galaxy he was assigned to. He had been promoted to the position after the last general of the fleet attempted to desert but was caught and executed. General Mouzlauv was merciless and bloodthirsty, and he vowed revenge on the paladins of Voltron. He was forever loyal to Zarkon.

“Yes, sir. She says she will arrive in 5 vargas, and she expects the paladins to be in their places for the trap.” The guard spoke quickly, saluting firmly.

The general snorted in disgust as he looked around the station, barely acknowledging the response the guard had given him, “You call this a station? This planet may have been long abandoned, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been that difficult to make it look a little more modern.” He growled as he glared at the guard, who gulped. Mouzlauv rolled his eyes, a sneer plastered on his scarred face, “Just bring me to the damned control room already, soldier.”

With that, the guard managed to get out a “Yes, sir,” as he quickly turned around and continued leading the general and his two sentries to the control room.


	3. Danger, Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Keith time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a tad bit shorter than the last one, I was going to make it a lot longer in the plans, but I prefer it where it is.  
> I'm enjoying writing this, and I'm so giddy that I already have 8 kudos????????? E i g h t???? That's amazing, thank you! Also wow, it hasn't even been a week and I'm already uploading chapter 2.

Surrounding the planet was a ring of rocks and small asteroids, it provided perfect shelter for the two lions that watched in wait for their moments to arrive. Underneath a larger asteroid in the ring, the blue and black lions waited, not a word passing between the two paladins inside them. Their attention was focused on the mission at hand. Once the red and green lions had safely made their way to the surface with, hopefully, minimal resistance, the blue lion would jump into the fray, helping the yellow lion who was being bombarded by the fleet which surrounded the planet. He had to wait, it was best there was only one lion to focus on, it would keep their attention in one place away from the planet. So far, it was working.

Keith watched with baited breath, there was no atmosphere left on the planet, and after the thousands of years it had been drilled, it was small, almost the size of a large moon at best. The drilling stations were massive, however, protruding out of the planet like there had once been a much bigger planet in its place. Only a small number dotted the planet, it didn’t take much to cover the whole surface, and every once in awhile a small ship, likely a droid, would fly away from the surface.

However, as Allura and Pidge made their way towards the stations, there was no such movement from the surface. Not even the visible defences of the planet reacted to the approaching lions. While he had hoped for that, Keith frowned. He had, at the very least, expected something small, a drone or _something_ , but not a thing acknowledged the two. He knew that was a good thing, but it still sent an uncomfortable chill up his spine. Something about the mission was rubbing him the wrong way.

However, a small feeling wasn’t enough to make him call off the mission. Very little would cause him to call off the mission, he was determined. His had tunnel vision, he would either find Shiro, or he would run himself and his team into the ground trying. He thought back to earlier during the meeting and snorted bitterly. On the previous mission, the paladins had arrived at a distress beacon. Unlike the others, it was a very recent one. A planet that had otherwise avoided the oppression of the Galra empire had gathered the attention of the empire through a new technological discovery. Unlike the small fleet that surrounded Gornus, the army that arrived at the planet was large and intimidating. They had arrived and all was going well until they formed Voltron. The unstable connection between the red and black lions and their paladins had caused them to split during battle, forcing them apart. They were able to cause severe damage to the attackers, but the Galra were never to be underestimated, and the green lion sustained severe damage. Against his wishes, Keith was forced by the blue paladin to retreat. Fortunately, the damage they had delivered to the Galra was great enough to cause them to retreat as well. Pidge had spent two days in the healing pod, and the rest of the paladins had sustained injuries as well. The tension between Keith and Lance had only grown after that, and they spent those two days yelling at each other. Keith had decided that if he were to repeat the mission over again, he would do the same thing. He would continue to do the same thing until Shiro was returned to them, or until they died trying to get him back.

His attention was brought back to the present as the blue lion flew past him and towards the yellow lion, jumping in to give the yellow lion and her paladin a moment to recover. Now that he was no longer than only one under fire, the yellow paladin was able to focus on causing damage. With the yellow lion’s armour and the blue lion's powers, they were able to knock considerable chunks out of the small ships. They made a large effort to avoid the larger ships; with only two lions, they were no match for the battle-class ships that surrounded the planet. That, and Keith would soon be aboard one of them, and it was preferable it didn’t explode with him in it.

While Lance and Hunk whittled away at the fleet, Keith found a gap to make his way to the back of the ship, latching on with his lion. Pidge had given him a code that would override the airlocks and he would be able to make his way in, all he had to do was removed a panel and enter it. That was easier said than done. He glared at the walls around the airlock exit like it would magically cooperate with him. Pidge had said there would be a removable panel near the airlock that would allow him to access a small alcove where he would be able to bring up a monitor to enter the access code.

He glared at the ship's outer hull, there was no visible panel, and he began to run his hands along the ship, searching for a hidden one. All the while, he muttered bitterly under his breath. Eventually, his gloved fingertips ran over a small crack, and upon closer inspection, it was a small square panel. It took a few ticks of jimmying with his bayard to get it off, and a few more to figure out how to bring up the monitor, but he was finally able to enter the pin code. He gritted his teeth and he tapped on the keys, he had wasted precious time messing with the airlock door. He had to move quickly. Once Allura and Pidge had searched the mining stations for information, they would join Hunk and Lance, and he needed to be there to form Voltron.

 _If she’ll even let me_ , he thought bitterly, looking up at Black. She growled quietly, not a warning, but she clearly didn’t like Keith. The first time he had piloted Black to save Shiro, she had welcomed him. Even when he first took the position as the black paladin, she had been friendly. After that first time, though, she grew more distant and displeased with him. Keith huffed and made his way to the empty airlock before it closed. It was just another thing that made him angry. Few things didn’t, ever since he became the black paladin. He blamed it on stress, _I’m allowed to be angry_ , he thought with a scowl.

As he stood in the airlock, waiting for the second door to open, he brought up the ship map on his wrist. Thankfully, most Galra ships were exact mirrors of themselves, and the prison carrier ships were no different. He was quick to locate the position of the control room, it was on the same floor. From there he would have to give himself access the cell blocks. He would also be able to download the ships prisoner database for Pidge to translate and search through. He tried not to get his hopes up on finding Shiro aboard the ship, it was unlikely, but he couldn’t help the anxiousness that bubbled up in him as he thought about finding his lost friend.

Once out of the airlock, he moved stealthily. The halls were well guarded, and he knew that down in the cell blocks it would be worse. Before he got there though, he had to get to the control room, that was priority number one. He was forced to move slowly, to his agitation. With each step there always seemed to be another sentry on its way, and as he took each one down and hid the scrap that was left, he thanked Shiro silently for teaching the team about the sentry’s movement patterns. Another pang of sadness at the thought of their former leader pushed its way into his brain, but he shoved it away. _Now is not the time_ , he told himself.

He turned a corner, breath catching in his throat as he spotted the group of guards who were, luckily, turned away from him. He ducked back behind the corner, cursing under his breath as he brought the map up to his face. The control room was at the end of the hallway the guards were blocking, and they looked like they weren’t planning on letting anything through. He could always turn around and find another way around, but he didn’t have the time for that. He had to get information on Shiro and form Voltron. His face scrunched up in thought, giving him a pouty demeanour.

With another discreet peek around the corner, he took in the surroundings and began to formulate a plan. He could either find a way to distract them or run in, bayard swinging and probably be outnumbered. He wasn’t that irrational, he knew that guns blazing wasn’t the best option. Normally, he would, but he was on a time crunch and he knew there would be no assistance from the team if he failed, and starting a fight would cause more trouble than it would solve. He had to distract them. What he wouldn’t give to have Pidge around. She was the master of distraction.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to prepare his distraction as the sound of footsteps began finding their way to him. He chest tightened as he looked around, not a hiding spot to be seen, only a long empty hallway. His gaze slowly drifted upwards. The ceiling in the area was high, and small pipes lined the edges of the ceiling. It was good enough, and without a second thought, he boosted his jetpack to full throttle, praying the guards were still too far away to hear it. He nearly hit the ceiling when he stopped, grabbing onto the pipes and silently telling them not to break.

Within ticks of him reaching the ceiling, the group marched past, right underneath him. He watched them move slowly underneath him, and he counted. Now that he had a clear view of the patrolling Galra, he could see they were four of them. As he watched them, his previous thoughts of avoiding a fight cleared out of his mind, flush out by the sudden anger that pulsed through him at the sight of those who had taken Shiro. Somewhere, a small voice told him not to give into his urges, but that didn’t concern him, and he landed on top of one of the Galra. He had dropped with his bayard pointing underneath him, and with a satisfying _crunch_ , the guard underneath him was on the floor, not even a twitch. He kicked out a leg, knocking two more of the guards to the floor as they processed the situation.

With one down and two temporarily handicapped, he was able to take out the fourth guard without too much hassle, but the other two guards were back on their feet quickly. He dove to the side as the sounds of a blaster shot past his head. Part of his helmet was warm to the touch where the laser had grazed it, but he had no time to think about it. The guards were quick to fire. Thankfully, he was quicker, and as long as he kept moving around them, they couldn’t hit him. _Who hires gunman who can’t hit a moving target?_ he sneered, pouncing on the closest Galra. It was a tussle, but the guard made a good meat shield, and soon it was just Keith and one guard left. He could handle one on one easily, and the fight was over before long.

As soon as the last body hit the floor, he was running for the control room before anyone else could show up. He didn’t have time to clean up his mess, so it was best he made it out of the ship by the time the next patrol comes down that far. As his hand hit the control panel and the doors slid open, he was met with the shocked face of yet another Galra soldier, who quickly raised his blaster, aiming for Keith. Keith’s body was still running on adrenaline, however, and without a second thought, the black paladin was on top of the soldier. What he lacked in the other paladins’ skills, he had in speed and reflexes. He fought based on instinct and skill, not thought like Pidge. While Hunk was still the toughest of the bunch, Keith could out-stamina him in spars. The soldier was out, his blaster clattering to the ground, within moments. Ignoring the sputtering gasps, he kicked the soldier to the side as the noises faded and he slumped over.

As if there wasn’t a dead body laying next to him, he set out on his work. As he tapped away rapidly, his fingers dancing over the panels, he felt the adrenaline start to drain from him. The fatigue of the last week of rough training was catching up to him, but he wouldn’t let it stop him. He only slightly regretted the nearly unreasonable training regimen he requested. His Galra was choppy at best, but he knew enough to find the database, downloading it to the chip he inserted into the panel. As he watched the information download, his eyes rushed over the screen, watching the faces flicker, barely staying for a tick before it was replaced. It was pointless to try and pick out Shiro from the rush of images that flew past him, but he would try nonetheless. As desperately as he wanted to hunt through the information right then and there, he knew it would be futile until Pidge could decode it.

Once the information was downloaded, it took him several moments for him to figure out how to give himself access to the cells, but eventually, he succeeded. He kicked himself for not accepting more language help from the Blad’s, and with that, he closed out of the screen, giving the body a sideways glance and shrugging. By the time someone found it, and the rest of the bodies, he would, hopefully, be back to Black.

As he made his way down to the cell blocks, it hit him just how suspicious the situation was. According to the information he had gotten on the cell blocks, only one of them was occupied. On such a big ship, that was more than just a little suspicious. He had been willing to brush off how easily the red and green lions made it to the surface. It had been established that it looked like they were preparing to abandon the planet. Either way, he had been hoping for the lack of reaction. Otherwise, the plan would have easily crumbled. However, as he made his way through the ship, he grew increasingly more uncomfortable. _Why would a mining colony that was being abandoned need such a large fleet of ships? Let alone battleships and large empty prison carriers_ , he scowled in thought as he stopped in front of the last cell block level. He had been so lost in his worries that he hadn’t even realised he had already arrived, and he took a moment to let out silent thanks to whatever prevented him from mindlessly running into sentries on the way.

He stepped through the door, the access panel giving a little _beep_ to indicate he had access. The cell itself was indeed the only occupied one, the rest were open and untouched, and on a prison ship as large as the one he was on, that was just another straw on the suspicious camel’s back. As his hand wavered over the control panel a sudden thought struck him and his gut felt like it was twisting itself into knots, _This whole thing has been a trap_ , The realisation struck him like a brick. Those weren't just coincidences. Allura and Pidge didn’t make it to the planet’s surface out of a fluke. He hadn’t made his way through the ship based on skill or luck. The ships were decoys. They knew the paladins would rush to take down any fleet they found. They knew the paladins were there. They were waiting on something, a cue to strike. Keith knew he had to strike first.

His hand hesitated over the control panel, _I have to find Shiro_ , he reminded himself before he gently placed his hand on it. As the door whooshed open, a group of frightened aliens huddled in the corner, cowering. No Shiro. He frowned and turned to close the door without acknowledging the prisoners crowded in it, but the memories of the way Shiro had always stopped to save those he could flashed through his mind. A pang of guilt flew past the fog, and he sighed. He turned back to the aliens, who had gone from cowering to staring at him cautiously. He spoke flatly, but quickly, his voice low and gravelly, with one thumb pointed over his shoulder and indication for them to leave, “Voltron has arrived. Make your way to the escape pods and leave as fast as you can. There is one on this floor, but it requires an access code. Luckily, I have the access codes for the airlocks and the escape pods.” He took a moment to recite the code for the escape pod on their floor, repeating it when asked. He was glad for Pidge drilling it into his head. He honestly couldn’t figure out how she had been able to get the information without going near the ship, but frankly, he had learned to stop questioning her methods a long time ago.

He didn’t stop to accept the thanks from the aliens that scuttled past him. One small alien, short and round looking, stopped to look up at Keith, gracious thanks forming on his lips. The glower Keith gave the group caused the small alien to falter, and the little blue creature scurried after the rest of the group. As soon as they were all out of sight, he turned on his heel and ran. He ran like his life depended on it, and frankly, it probably did. He had his comms off, something he had warned the other paladins about. He knew it was a stupid decision, but lately, he was very good at those.

As he ran, he realised the other’s wouldn’t know it was a trap, so he pressed his hand to a small button on the helmet, and the comms crackled to life. As the white noise faded, his blood ran cold. He stood outside the airlock door, hand extended towards the access panel, but he was frozen. He couldn’t move as the sounds that blared through his helmet drowned out all thoughts, all distractions. They were screaming. His team was screaming. The sound of beeping rang through his ears, the sound of someone calling out that their lion wasn’t responding. The sound of someone calling out a name, but he couldn’t distinguish who they had called to. This was his fault. The thought pulsed through his brain. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears, and through the shouting in his ears, he heard someone shout his name.

_”Where the fuck is Keith?”_

It was Lance speaking, and it cracked him out of his stupor for a moment, and he shook his head, slamming his hand against the button to open the airlock entrance. It occurred to him he wasn’t sure how to go about leaving, and he realised he was going to have to shoot himself out into space if he used the airlock. 

He wasn’t left to ponder the situation for long as an overwhelming sensation came over him. He was nauseous, and his body ached all over. He retched, stomach acids burning his throat. An unbearable itch crawled its way over his shoulders and up his neck. In the back of his mind, an unfamiliar presence seemed to mock him. He could feel the panicked feeling of Black as she tried to push her way into his mind. No longer was she hostile, but afraid, worried, and it was clear that whatever was happening was bad. Very bad. Black spots danced in front of his eyes, and it felt like something heavy was pressing against his chest. He gasped for air before he began retching again. A pain suddenly shot through his legs, and again. He barely noticed falling onto his back. He couldn’t feel the clawed hands wrapping themselves around his arms, nor the sensation of cuffs being tightly clasped around his wrist. The sounds of his helmet had been drowned out by the roaring in his mind. His body felt numb, but at the same time, it was excruciatingly painful, He felt hot, suddenly, like he had been thrown under a heavy fur blanket. He could faintly feel the sensation of himself being lifted and carried. He couldn’t tell how long he was carried, and he suddenly found himself on the floor again. He couldn’t move, and the force of hitting the floor was enough to jar him back into semi-consciousness, but it didn’t last long. The pain that crawled its way over his body soon faded, but it was likely caused by the fact he was slipping into unconsciousness. Somewhere through the black fog and white noise that roared through his head, he heard voices calling his name, though he couldn’t tell what was causing the noise. Time didn’t seem to exist, and he couldn’t think. Only a few ticks could have passed, or even several vargas. He could feel his body shutting itself off as he lay on the ground. He couldn’t look where he was, even if he tried. He was only 50% sure his eyes were still open, and he attempted one last time to cry out. No noise came out, or maybe it did, he couldn’t tell anymore. The last thought that crowded his mind as he drifted off was clear, a brief moment where everything seemed to stop and restart again before shutting down completely, _Am I dying_?

\---


	4. Violet Mist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Where am I?_ The world seemed hazy, and as the figure sat up from the floor, a small puff of purple fur followed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry about how long this chapter took, I've been going through a... period of my life that's been getting me down, but I can promise that no matter how long it takes me, I will never abandon this fic. I'm too invested, I've planned way too much just to abandon it. x3

Pidge clung to the handles in her lion for dear life, her voice hoarse as she cried out a mayday over and over again. Green had stopped responding to her touch and was being flung about like a ragdoll as they were bombarded with enemy fire. Through her screen she could vaguely see past the explosions the shapes of Yellow and Blue, but Red was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t left to ponder Allura’s position, as another heavy blast sent her and Green slamming into an asteroid. She cried out as her head smashed against the control panels and everything faded to black.

\--

After she and Allura had reached the control room on the base, they had been quick to realize there was little to no information stored on it. Allura was about to make the call that their end was a bust when the click of a laser rifle loading caused them both to turn around. In front of them, blocking to doorway, was the commander and his guards who they had previously seen.

“Ah, paladins, how good of you to arrive so soon,” Mouzlauv smiled malevolently to Allura, showing off long and pointed teeth.

The sentries on either side of him had the guns leveled towards both paladins, and the guard knelt in front of them, aiming his rifle directly at Pidge. Allura and Pidge exchanged side glances before a curt nod to each other. It was time to get out of there.

They both raised their hands, indicating surrender, and the general smirked, “Not even going to put up a fight, huh? And you’re sure these are the ones who took down Lord Zarkon?” He laughed, directing his question to the guard, who briefly turned his head to look at the general.

The red and green paladins took that brief lapse in focus to act. As Pidge took aim at the sentires, her bayard materialized in her hand. _I love altean technology_ , she thought briefly before firing, the grappling-hook-like weapon soaring past the left senty, bouncing off the hard metal wall and curving back around the sentry, lassoing him so she could drag him to the ground. 

Meanwhile, Allura had her bayard as well, using the whip to knock the gun out of the right sentry’s hand as it took aim at her smaller companion. Mouzlauv let out an irritated battle cry, charging towards Allura as the sentry scrambled to retrieve it’s weapon. The guard had entered into a tug of war match with Pidge, his gauntlet covered hands gripping the bayard’s rope.

The other sentry managed to drag itself back to his feet, but was sent flying back into the wall as the general collided full force with it. Allura had charged right back at Mouzlauv, her altean strength knocking his squat form off balance and sending him flying into the wall.

As Pidge managed to win the tug of war, there was a brief opening the paladin could get through, and they did. Pidge made sure to break the control panel on the way out, temporarily locking the general and his guard in the control room. 

Pidge reached up to her helmet, pressing her finger to the comms button, ready to warn the boys that it was a trap. Before she could speak, Lance’s voice crackled through the comms, coupled by the muffled sound of of fighting outside the cockpit.

“Uh, guys, we have a problem,” He shouted, a blast sounding out through the speaker as he shot down a small fighter.

“Lance? What’s the problem?” Allura spoke up, brow furrowing as the two made it to the exit.

“We have company,” It was Hunk speaking this time, panic rising in his voice.

Allura and Pidge exchanged worried glances as Pidge opened the door. Before any other questions could form in Allura’s mouth, the two saw the problem.

Several massive cruisers had appeared, followed by a large fleet. They had undoubtedly been set up. The tiny dwarf planet was shadowed heavily by the enormous ships that clouded the sky above. Faintly, the colours blue and yellow could be seen flitting in between the purple ships, followed by clouds of flame as the fighters around them exploded. As each fighter went down, it seemed that two more took it’s place.

As the red and green lions, and their paladins, rocketed off to the other two lions, Allura called out on the comms, “Coran? Coran, we need cover fire from the ship, where are you?”

For a moment there was no reply, then a crackling static came over, Coran’s voice eventually coming through, “I’m sorry princess, but no can do, we’re a little tied up at the moment over here as well-” Suddenly, there was a shout, followed by a blast, and the static cut out.

“Coran?!” Allura called out, voice laced with fright and worry.

Meanwhile, Pidge was staring in the direction of the castle. The largest ship loomed over them, like a monument of destruction, as it prepared another blast. She recognized the attack; it was the druids. She was quick to call out the alert to her teammates, but the blast was quicker. It made no direct hits, but it grazed them close enough the send their lions flying. Though the hit wasn’t direct, it was enough to drain the power from her lion, having been the most vulnerable one due to her positioning. As green hurtled towards the asteroid field, Oidge cried out a mayday over and over again, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“My lion won’t respond, she will not respond!”

Just then, Lance shouted over the comes, followed by several blasts to indicate his lion still has some firepower left, “Where the fuck is Keith?!”

It took only a few moments for a response to come. A loud, bloodcurdling sound ripping through the communication speakers. It took a moment for them to discover the source. It was undoubtedly Keith, and he was screaming.

The screeching drowned out Pidge’s crying as Green smashing into an asteroid, and her world went black.

\---

Lance raised his head, the massive pain making it almost impossible to focus on the shapes in front of him, a trickle of wetness flowed from his forehead over his brow. He dizzily looked around, seeing Hunk to his right, the big guy looked in bad condition, but he looked better than the green paladin flopped onto the floor next to him. She didn’t move except for the faint up and down of her chest as she breathed, just barely. She was battered badly, her armor was cracked in several places, and the visor of her helmet was shattered. From his angle, Lance couldn’t see her face, but there was a small pool of blood trickling down from her helmet, and he gulped. He glanced to his left and saw Allura, stomach down on the ground. Her hands were cuffed, as were her legs, and a hefty soldier stood above her, a foot placed firmly onto her back, pinning her. Next to her knelt Coran, his head hung down, a severe burn ran up his left side, and Lance could somewhat see a gash along his right side, but it was facing away from him. They were all chained in similar fashion to Allura, who raised her head to the sound of footsteps.

Looking forward, Lance saw the source as she walked out of a sliding door, a malicious grin on her face. “Paladins…” the witch chuckled, “You may have brought down Lord Zarkon, but you have not destroyed his empire.” She shook her head, tutting, bringing a long, untrimmed nail up as she knelt in front of the princess, “Your father certainly tried to keep you and those lions away from us, didn’t he?”

“Get away from the princess!” Lance managed to spit out, surprised at how badly he was slurring his words.

Haggar turned to grin at him, standing up and walking away from Allura, over to him, “Well, well, blue paladin, feisty, aren’t we?” She cackled as she knelt in front of him, “It must be awful, being abandoned by both your leaders in such a short amount of time.”

Lance’s eyes widened at that, a snarl forming on his lips as he spat out at her, “Where is Keith? What have you done to Keith?”

At that, Haggar only laughed, standing up and walking over to stand next to the empty throne, Zarkon’s throne, presumably, “I’m sure you will get to see him soon enough.”

Before he could question her further, the door behind them slid open, and he snapped his head back to look at, falling over as a sense of vertigo came over him. He heard the witch cackle as he flopped onto his side, but his eyes were glued on the burly soldier walking through the door. The soldier carried something in his arms, a strange, almost human-like creature. Lance’s eye’s widened as he saw the paladin armor on the figure and the soldier threw it onto the ground.

“Keith!” The three still fully conscious paladins shouted as they stared at the figure. It was a horrible sight. Vomit covered his front, and a frightening amount of blood dribbled from his mouth down his chin. The worst part, however, was the clumps of purple hair that were visible around his jaw, and the fuzzy ears that just barely poked out of his tangled hair.

He stirred briefly, eyes flickering open and closed as he opened his mouth, trying to force out a sound. “L.. l… hu.. La..” He managed to murmur before he went limp once more,the motion of his chest barely visible as his breathing seemed to steadily slow.

The witch cackled again, gesturing lazily to the group, “Take them to their cell, and bring that one to my _private_ lab,” She added, pointing with a bony finger at the limp figure of Keith on the hard metal floor.

Lance began to protest once more, an insult forming on his lips, when there was a loud _clunk_ as one of the guards used the back of their gun to knock him to the ground.

The paladins were each roughly dragged out of the room by their limbs, as well as Coran, who had apparently fallen unconscious at some point as his limp form was dragged by his feet. Allura looked up briefly one last time to see Keith’s form being dragged in the opposite direction, through a much smaller door, followed closely by Haggar.

\--

The room was dark, aside from a small crack of light that flooded in under the large metal door. The figure in the room groggily rolling off the bench it had been using as a bed. It swung its head around and stood, lumbering over to the door, feeling at the wall as it moved. The _tack tack tack_ of two clawed feet hitting the ground following as it walked. Running a hand along the door revealed a hatch-like window that opened from the outside. Moving past the door, the figure continued to explore its new environment, the sound of a tail dragging on the floor swooshing around behind him.

As it found its way back to the bench, the _woosh_ of a door sliding open outside the cell rang out, and the marching of metal feet clanked up outside the door. Suddenly, the figure was washed with light as the metal hatch was forcefully opened.

The figure shielded its eyes, bringing one hairy arm up to its face. It wasn’t large and imposing like the galra outside its cell, but it was definitely galra. Two fluffy ears poked through a tangle mess of what could be called hair, but it looked more like a rats nest that was caught in a hurricane. As it lowered it’s arms, it blinked, staring at the small hole producing the light. It had a very… human-like face as it stood, stepping closer to the door out of pure curiosity.

Suddenly, a hooded face appeared in the hole. It looked familiar, but the imprisoned galra couldn’t put its finger on it.

Finally, the voice spoke. It was gravelly and rough as it’s owner grinned through the hatch, “So nice of you to join the world of the living, child.”

The galra tilted his head, taking in the words as he tried to deduce why he was there, and… who he was. In fact, he didn’t remember anything, except the woman’s face. He just couldn’t figure out why it was so _familiar_.

The woman spoke again, but this time it was not directed at him. She turned her head, saying something to someone who must have been standing next to her. The next thing to happen was the door sliding open with a quick _shhk_.

“Come, my dear, you must be uncomfortable in this cell…” The woman spoke again, this time he had a clear view of her. She was short compared to the other galra, and a hood hung low over her face, obscuring most of it. Her voice was soothing as she coaxed him out, lacing her tone with kindness. It might have been off putting… but the short, no longer imprisoned galra felt welcome by the woman. Meanwhile, the guards around her gave him a disgusted look. He decided he liked her best, and began to trail after her as she guided him.

The group made their way down a long hallway into a much larger room than his cell, and he was motioned inside by the woman, who once again spoke, “This is where you will live from now on, my boy. Make yourself at home… these guards are ordered to do whatever you request. Within reason, of course,” She chuckled, and the galra couldn’t help himself but smile, “Now, you must not leave the room unless I am hear to guide you around. Wouldn’t want you to get lost, hm?” She laid a bony hand on his shoulder and he nodded, it made sense.

He opened his mouth, surprised to find he had a voice. It was hoarse and sore, like he had been screaming for hours on end, but he didn’t remember that, oh well, “Thank you… where am I? Who… am I?” He said hesitantly, unsure as he looked around the large room. At one corner, a comfortable bed sat. It was squat but wide, covered in an exuberant amount of pillows. It was a very large room, and one wall was entirely screen. Various other objects, some very strange looking, were placed meticulously around the room, giving it a very homely feeling.

The woman chuckled good naturedly, running her fingers through the rats nest of his hair, tugging at the nots, but not hard enough to be too painful, “Of course. You are in the great Lord Zarkon’s fortress. Your name is Kativan, and you are a very important person.” She smiled sweetly, “You’ll know your purpose soon enough. And my name is Haggar, but you can call me… mother.”

A burst of warmth seemed to fill Kativan’s chest as he felt an urge to hug Haggar, and he did. Like a child, he swept in, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into the fabric of her cloak. She smiled, patting his head, “Now. I must go, Auvin and Murak will take care of you until I return.”

As she walked out of the door and it swept closed behind her, his two guards stood in front of the door, preventing him from leaving, if he had wanted to. But he didn’t want to. It was cozy and nice in his new room, and there was something unfamiliar, but nice, about having a home and someone to call mother. In the meantime, he figured it was time to get some rest on a real bed.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't use it often but I have a twitter, where I will try and keep people updated on my progress: https://twitter.com/ChobeeWan?lang=en  
> I know it was kinda short, I'm sorry if it was underwhelming, but I liked the way it ended, and I figured it would be better to stop here for the moment.  
> So Kativan, huh?


	5. The Past

Hunk looked up from his plate, spitting a bit of food as he spoke, “D’you guys think we should go check on Keith…?”

Everyone else looked up at the yellow paladin, startled out of their thoughts of what had just happened, as his question hit their ears. They took a moment to look at each other, before a collective majority nodded in unison, turning their eyes to the oblivious victim.

Lance stared back at them, confusion (and a touch of annoyance) showing through on his face, “Why’s everybody looking at me?” He said, automatically feeling defensive. The team just continued to stare at him, Hunk quirking his eyebrow in a knowing manner. Lance’s eyes widened to comical size as he realized what his teammates wanted him to do, “Oh, no. Nope. No way, not gonna happen, I am NOT, N-O-T going to be the one to check on Keith while he’s like this. I refuse.” He turned his head away, folding his arm and leaning back in his chair, ending the discussion, or at least, attempting to.

As if on cue, the door slid open with a _woosh_ , a very tired looking Pidge standing on the other side, glaring at Lance, “You ARE going to go talk to Keith and you are going to do it NOW. He’s locked himself in his room, and he already tried to punch me. He’s your trouble now, Lance.” She swore bitterly, her face twisting weirdly as they all felt an uncomfortable silence they were so used to being filled with a curt “Language.” However, Shiro wasn’t there, and perhaps that reminder was what provoked her to punch the control panel on the door on the way back out, causing Hunk to flinch as he watched his friend walk off.

Turning back to his defiant friend, he looked over to where the regal altean watched silently from the other end of the table, he mouthed a silent ‘HELP ME’ to her, and Allura sighed.

Unsure of what exactly to say, she began to direct Lance’s attention to her direction, “Lance, I understand that sometimes you and Keith have your differences, but right now I believe you are the person he needs the most right now.” Her voice was soft and sincere and he turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

“What gives you that idea? I’m pretty sure the guy hates my guts.” His tone was good natured, but there was a tinge of something else in his voice; guilt?

As he cast his gaze down onto the plate of barely-eaten food goo, Hunk and Allura shared an exasperated, but sympathetic look, over him, and Hunk spoke up, “Come on buddy, the worst thing that’s gonna happen is he won’t open his door, and he won’t talk to you. Even if it doesn’t work, at least try?” When Lance continued to hesitate, Hunk sighed, “Look, Keith is a part of Voltron. He’s had a rough day, we all have, but we need to keep each other in high spirits. We can’t help the universe if we feel like crap all of the time. And we can't find Shiro like that, either. So, could you at least try and help out with Keith?”

Finally relenting, Lance sighed nodding, “Alright, alright buddy. I’ll go check up on mullet-head.”

As he stood and left the room, Hunk and Allura watched him leave, exchanging exhausted sighs as the doors slid shut.

~~~

The blue paladin sighed, standing outside the closed room door, “Keith, come on buddy.” No answer, “Come on, we’re all hurting right now, and today was… not fun, for any of us, I admit. But, you can’t lock yourself away like this. You don’t necessarily need to talk to me about what happened today but… talk to Allura or Hunk. What about Coran?” There was the faint sound of a mattress creek, but the door remained shut, “You can’t just storm out of a meal like that and expect us not to worry about you, dude.” He trailed off slightly, genuine concern coming out in his tone.

Finally, the sound of a blanket moving and feet hitting the ground could be heard in the room; a short bout of footsteps, followed by the beep of a control panel. Finally, the door opened with a _shoosh_ , revealing a puffy-faced mess of Keith standing in the doorway, looking up at Lance. He had clearly just been crying, and his hair looked like it had been run through a blender.

For a brief moment, Lance was stunned to see the red paladin in such a state, but he was quick to snap himself out of it, rushing to guide the dishevelled paladin back inside the room, shutting the door softly as he stepped through.

He guided the now-shaking paladin over to his bed, sitting him down on the edge. As Lance sat down next to him, Keith suddenly wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face into Lance’s jacket. Not realizing he had been trying to form words for the last ten seconds (and instead had just been gaping awkwardly at the crying boy), Lance cleared his throat softly, causing Keith to make a small grunt of recognition, letting him know he was listening.

Finding his voice, and feeling a sudden wave of warmth and protectiveness as he cradled the somewhat shorter boy, “Keith,” He spoke softly as he looked down, feeling almost uncharacteristically tender as he reaches up to brush a lock of hair out of the way of Keith’s eyes, “Are you ready to talk about it yet?”

Keith took a moment to whipe his ose with the back of his hand, giving it thought. Finally, he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, wiping his nose with his wrist. Lance ignored the pang of sadness he felt when Keith pulled away, placing a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. The boy took a deep, shaky breath, opening his mouth to speak. As he spoke, his voice came out hesitant, as if he didn’t fully trust himself to be fine when he spoke again, “I don’t know where to start, it all just…” He simply trailed off, gesticulating half-heartedly in no particular meaning.

Lance nodded. He couldn't lie, he wasn’t entirely sure how to put the events of the day into words either. It had been only hours since the battle, and they had all been trying to recuperate, as best they could before something bad happened again. But how is one supposed to process all of it in such a short amount of time? The things they won, and the things they lost, were hard to process. He could understand how Keith felt. At the ame time, they couldn't top to mourn, if they stop now, they'd give the galra an upper hand. That being said, Lance wasn't about to tell the poor guy that.

Not a word passed between the two paladins. As the sat like that, they took each other's company as a comfort to ease the blow as the realization washed over them again, bringing another stream of tears to the red paladin’s eyes. Shiro was gone, and there was no way to find out where he went. They might never see him again.

Keith felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around him and tighten as the blue paladin cradled him in his arms. He couldn’t help but smile slightly through the tears that had annoyingly started up again, _Oh how the tables have turned_.

\--

Lance grunted as he opened his eyes, flinching as pain shot through his skull. As the black spots in his vision cleared away, he tried to take in his surroundings. Disoriented, he tried to process how he ended up in the small room. It was dark, aside from the light flooding in from under the door and through the not-fully-closed window hatch on the door. It was cramped, the only other thing in the room was a bench, which he had apparently been lying on.

As he tried to process how he had gone from the red paladin’s room to this cramped one, the events of the past however many days washed over him like a powerful ocean wave against a rocky shore. The mission, the trap, the fight with Keith… Lance shot to his feet as the scene in the throne room flashed into his mind again. The limp figure of Keith, breathing barely noticeable, laying on the cold metal floor. And Pidge, _Is she okay? Is she… alive?_ Lance felt himself choke up at the thought of what might have happened to the smallest paladin, and he pushed that thought out of his mind.

He forced himself to steady his breathing and calm down, the last thing he needed was to work himself into a panic attack. He needed a clear head, which was easier said than done. The pain in his head was unbearable, and it was hard to focus.

Following the sound of a door opening, a pair of boots moved around outside his cell, and he froze, head still cradled in his hands. The feet stopped in front of his cell, and he felt himself begin to shake, somewhat glad he was alone and no one could see him tremble like a leaf. After a far-too-long moment, the footsteps began again, receding into the distance, eventually fading away. As he released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he leaned back against the wall, breathing deeply.

Placing a hand on each side of his face, he found his voice, whispering softly to himself, “Come on Lancey-boy, focus, focus, get a grip. Don’t start freaking out yet man, we gotta think of a plan to get out of here. What would Pidge do?” He paused for a moment, leaning forward and pretending to hunch over an imaginary computer, over exaggeratedly pushing a pair of imaginary glassed up the bridge of his nose, “Well according to my calculations, we just have to science the fuck out of that door.” He said in a comical nerdy voice that didn’t sound anything like the person being mimicked, “Well… that didn’t help, on to plan B,” He said in a disgruntled manner, looking cross. He hoisted himself to his feet, walking over to the slightly open window hatch, attempting to push it open further.

Luckily, seeing as it was already somewhat open, he was able to slide it over all the way, getting a narrow view of the hall directly in front of his cell. Across the hall was another door just like his, a large metal cell door with a tiny window, but this one was shut, though the door was cracked open. He wondered if it was supposed to be empty, or if someone else had escaped. He deduced that even if there was an escape, it couldn’t have been one of the paladins. They wouldn’t have left him behind. _Hopefully_ , he noted.

Unable to judge if there were any guards positioned in the hallway, he decided it was time to use his voice, “Hey! Someone better explain to me what’s going on, and where my friends are!” He shouted through the hole, preparing to shout once more when a muffled noise stopped him.

It came from a different cell, out of his view, but he heard the sound of someone else jimmying open a hatch. Someone’s really shit at closing those, he thought to himself, finding amusement in it somewhat.

Finally, the sound of jimmying metal stopped, and a voice called out, sending warmth running through Lance, “Lance? Is that you? Thank god, Pidge and I were so worried, is anyone else with you?” It was Hunk. Lance felt a twinge of guilt at the selfless kindness of his big friend; with all the stressing over Keith he had been doing since he became their leader, Lance became rather short tempered sometimes, and he knew he had been getting snappy around his friend. He made a mental note to do something for his bro once they got out of that mess and back to the castle.

“Pidge is with you? She’s okay?” Lance perked up, relieved to hear that his small friend was alive.

“Yeah, she’s in one piece, we were just talking about where the rest of you might be…”

“Why isn’t she saying anything?” Lance questioned, unfounded anxiety poking into the back of his mind.

“Don’t worry about... huh?” There was a pause as Hunk had his attention redirected by something. After a moment of silence, Lance opened his mouth to speak, but as if on cue, Hunk spoke again, “She says she’s not comfortable with speaking out loud right now, but she wanted to let you know that she heard from no one particular, like it definitely wasn’t me, that you used her computer to try and find alien porn and when she sees you again she’s going to punch you so I’d watch out. I take it that no one else is with you, then? No Coran or Allura?”

Lance flinched momentarily as he thought about the Pidge-attack awaiting him in the future, _everyone has needs_ , he thought grumpily, before responding to the yellow paladin, “Yeah, no. I’m all alone over here. I guess it would be a dumb question to ask if you’ve seen any of them yet.”

“A little bit, yeah…” Hunk trailed off, followed shortly after by the sound of doors opening and armoured feet stomping down the hall.

Lance backed quickly away from the door as the footsteps moved to his cell. This time, he watched as a large, yellow eye peeked in through the hatch, and the booming voice of the galra it belonged to rang out, “Good to see you’re awake, blue paladin. The witch Haggar has asked for you especially.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he retorted to the Galra, stepping closer to the door once more, “What does she want with me? Where are the rest of my friends?” He demanded.

The galra only laughed, ordering the guards to grab him. Lance struggled when the three guards forcefully cuffed him once more, attaching the cuffs to a chain that seemed to be made of light. Lance made a mental comment about how he still finds alien technology cool, even when he’s probably about to die. He couldn’t help it, he had heard Hunk and Pidge gush over the castle workings too much.

That being said, the ‘muzzle’ that looked like space-face-bondage was one of the less entertaining pieces of tech he’d seen, especially now that it was on him. So he called one of the guards a ‘quiznacking fucknuggets mcsucker’ and tried to bite him, what’s the big deal? Softies.

\--

“Lance?” Hunk whispered one more time out the hatch to confirm that yes, Lance was gone, _again_. He turned around, facing the smaller paladin, his face falling farther as he moved to sit next to her.

He flinched when she jumped, turning her head to look up at him with wide eyes. She brought a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness overcame her and she let out a loud sigh. Hunk reached out his hand, laying it on her shoulder, and she looked back up at him as he opened his mouth to speak, “Oops, I’m sor-” He was cut off by a punch to the shoulder, and he whimpered, cowering. Pidge made a few rapid hand movements, and Hunk blushed, realizing his mistake. He quickly began making gestures with his hands, an apologetic expression on his face, “I’m sorry, I forgot. Yes, Lance is gone.” He frowned sadly as he saw the look on his friend’s face.

Leaning against the wall, Pidge folded her arms around her legs, burying her head in between her knees. Hunk stared sympathetically at his ginger friend, leaning against the wall next to her and pulling her into a bear hug.

They remained there in silence, as there was nothing else there could be. He wished he could do something to cheer up his fellow paladin, but she was dealing with her own problems. After the impact she had made on the dashboard, she was apparently suffering from a concussion. Worse, she’s suffering from hearing loss. When she had woken up to not being able to hear, she had panicked. Thankfully, Hunk was there and already awake.

Finally, they knew that at least one paladin was alive. Probably. He definitely _was_. The two shudder at the idea that that would be the last they hear of their friend, and they silently thanked a mystical force for allowing them to have each other for company. Ever since they became paladins, they had become almost inseparable as a duo. Hunks engineering skills, and pidges intellect, made them the brains of the team.

Pidge stared at the ground, where a slit of the colored light hit the ground, originating from the hatch. Pondering her condition, she looked up at Hunk; he had turned away from her, eyes looking up at the window, his legs were bouncing to a rhythm only he knew and his fingers fidgeted widely with each other. She truly was happy that he was with her in that cell. If she had woken up alone, she would already be going insane. It was already bad enough as it was, when she had first realized she couldn’t hear.

\--

It was dark, and it hurt to move just about everything. It was also quiet, but unnaturally so. No sounds of the faint hum of the castle engine, nor any sound of the crickets outside her bedroom at home. It took her a moment to register her location, but as pain shot through his head all over, she only managed to groan. Well, she was pretty sure she groaned. Her eyes flew open and she shot up, vertigo causing her to wobble and be forced back down on the makeshift pillow, made from a jacket, by a pair of large hands. Not knowing who they belonged to, or even be able to hear them make any noise, or hear anything for that matter, Pidge did the only thing her muggy mind could come up with on the spot: panic.

Pidge had always been a good wrestler, though she was well known for playing dirty. Hunk, however, was Hunk, and she was 4’9” and 84 pounds when carrying a bag of cement. Eventually, he had her subdued, and she had stopped squirming enough that she began to recognize him, and eventually was safe to be released.

As fast as Hunk had released her, she already had him a hug as she cried. He explained to her later that she had been borderline screaming at that point.

It had taken her a few minutes before she was able to calm down enough to think straight, and a few more for Hunk to get an explanation. He had been the one to use sign language first, and he explained that when he was a kid, he had been neighbors with a deaf boy, and they had been friends for a long time, until the boy’s family moved. He had gotten back into contact with him, and they had been pnepals. Until the found the blue lion, of course.

Pidge was quick to pick it up, and soon she had calmed down enough to where she was no longer crying, only hiccuping a couple of times.

\--

Now, the room was still, Hunk had managed to tire himself out after he had started pacing around their small cell. Pidge had sighed in relief when he fell asleep, his pacing had been giving her more anxiety, which really shouldn’t have been physically possible. Yet, here she is, trembling and unable to judge if her feeble attempts to mask her whimpering where effective. She felt her mind wander deeper in self doubt as she stared at a tiny crack in the metal panelling.

When would her hearing return? Neither she nor Hunk had any knowledge of first aid, and there was no guarantee she would regain her hearing at all. What use would she be without her hearing, especially with her place on the team? She wouldn’t be able to receive crucial orders via radio in the heat of battle, or hear incoming enemy attacks. Would they have to find another green paladin? Clearly it was possible for a lion to give up their paladin if it was necessary, would this be one of those situations.

As Pidge wallowed in silent worry, she felt a hand rest on her back. She jumped slightly as it jarred her out of her thoughts, but relaxed as she was dragged into one of Hunk’s coveted bone-crushing bear hugs. She let her friend comfort her, glad that she had someone to keep her sane in that cell. For the time being, that is.

As she basked in the glory of a Hunk-brand bear hug, she had forgotten the tiny crack. The crack, which was no longer tiny, was slowly growing. After a minute, it was a perfect half cirle, ,and by the time Pidge had noticed it, it had nearly connected all the way to the origin point, forming a perfect circle. She probably let out a shout of surprise as it gave out, directly underneath her. She fell into a lower maintenance tunnel that apparently ran directly under her cell block. As she stared around blinking the stars in her vision away as she recovered from her second… third? Maybe… head injury, a face appeared above her, pointing a gun directed at her. His mouth moved, but she still couldn’t hear. _I guess two head injuries don’t counteract each other_ , she thought bitterly as she stared blankly at the face looming over her. Above him, she could see the panicked and confused face of hunk peering through the whole she fell though. He was saying something now, and then it was back to the stranger.

He was definitely taller than her, and his ginger hair was long but well kept, relatively. A second figure came moving up behind the ginger person, a helmet covering his hair, but a distinct scar on his face. She blinked rapidly as she took in the two figures, who had lowered their weapons and gawked back at her and Hunk, who had apparently joined them down in the tunnel. It was awfully cramped, and she was getting impatient.

Deciding it was time everyone picked their jaws up off the floor, she decided it was time to break their silence. She said the first phrase to come to mind, and by the way everyone flinched and stared at her, it had come out at just the right volume.

“I’m going to kick both of your asses.”

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my twitter @ChobeeWan where I'm gonna try and keep anyone updated on the progress,
> 
> I tried to make up for a disappointing chapter 3 after 3 months of nothing cause I really do feel really bad about that.
> 
> Also I'm sorry this sucks honestly, this is really the first thing I've ever even made an effort to complete so I'm not a very good writer, so this isn't turning out very good but... it is what it is?


	6. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The escapees and their saviors make their escape, and catch up on each other's situations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AhhhhHHH This feels too short but I really liked ending it on this point, I really felt like the second half of this chapter needed it's own chapter but it makes this one seem too small hnng, anyways, I updated this a lot faster than three months so like... at least that's an improvement.

“I’m going to kick your guys’ ases.” Pidge all but screamed at the two, who simply stared at her in shock.

“A thank you would be nice,” The ginger man standing next to Shiro crossed his arms, looking down at Pidge, squinting, “You look familiar.”

Pidge raised her eyebrows and turned her head, checking to see if he had been directing his words to Hunk, who had just finally gotten to his feet, running into Shiro’s arms before the former-black paladin could react. Turning her head back to the man, who was, she realized suddenly, actually human. She blinked at him, the pointed (and somewhat annoyed expression on his face) indicated that he had been speaking to her. Oh right, she realized blankly, They don’t know.

She was jerked out of her musings as the man snapped his finger in front of her, the motion catching her attention, his face going from annoyance to mild concern. Hunk finally untangled himself from poor Shiro, and hurried to Pidge’s side, explaining the situation. The man’s eyes widened as Hunk spoke, and Pidge wondered what he could possibly be telling the man that would be so impressive. He was with Shiro, clearly he already knew about Voltron. It wasn’t until his eyes snap to her face, and she can see tears already welling up in his eyes. Before she could process what was happening, he had scooped her into his arms.

Still unsure of the ginger man's identity, she looked pleadingly at Hunk over the man’s shoulder, and he gave her a soft, knowing smile. He made a simple motion with his hands, and it was her turn for her eyes to turn into saucers as she pulled back slightly from the hug, confirming Hunk’s hand… words?

It was Matt, and he was clinging to her for dear life. She felt herself crumble into his arms and as she recognized the heaving motions of her brother’s chest as crying, she couldn’t help but start bawling as well.

It was beautiful reunion. Until the guards finally heard the commotion and the cell door burst open. There was barely a second to process things before Shiro had Hunk by the collar, throwing him forward with enough momentum to boost his speed for a few seconds, but as Matt stood, carrying his sister like a tote bag under one arm, ignoring her squirms of protest, the sound of a galra guard dropping through the hole sent the entire team sprinting down the tiny corridor. Pidge felt rather comfortable and safe in small spaces, but as she watched her largest friend sprint at the head of the group, she felt sympathy knowing how badly her friend hated them. Combined with the fact they were attempting to escape prison, she knew Hunk could be sensitive, and she made a mental note to check in with him and make sure he’s alright when they get somewhere safe.

Meanwhile, the guards had all made their way into the tunnel and were keeping up at a steady pace. She could feel the steady vibration that ran through her brother’s body as each foot hit the ground, and she felt helpless as the motion unsettled her stomach as she felt a wave of vertigo spin her world again.

Squeezing her eyes shut as she wills her stomach to settle, she does not see nor expect the sudden ladder less drop in the maintenance tunnel and the team jumps there way through, no time to second guess themselves as the guards pursued them, hot on their heels. She’s pretty sure she let out a quiet yelp in surprise, but later on she'd never stop hearing shit about the panicked screech she let out when Matt jumped down the drop.

The jump didn't stop the guards, but it did give them a small amount of space between the two groups. Shiro turned his head to look over his shoulder, gaze sweeping to the tunnel they ran through, the sound of guards jumping down making him rush the large paladin even more. If they could keep up enough distance so as to keep themselves out of sight, Then they might be able to duck into a side path and lose them. That did require a side path, and So far they had only been able to go through the one path. It twisted and turned a lot, but there were no off branching paths.

Shiro could hear the footsteps of the guards rushing through the tunnel in their direction, and he tried to pick up the pace more. As if his prayers were being answered, he spotted the offshooting direction. As Matt and Pidge fled into the branching path and out of the main route, the footsteps were closer. Close enough that they would have been in shooting distance had they kept to the main tunnel. As the made their way, not taking any chances to let the guards discover their ruse, Shiro looked back for a moment, confirming that the guards were still heading away from them, and he ushered the rest of them along.

It took a few minutes for Matt and Shiro to determine their location on the map the ginger boy had pulled from a little satchel attached to his waist. He and shiro wore similar garbs, what seemed this metal plating on the front for armor, and a hood lay draped around their necks. There were minor differences between the outfits, but none very notable. The underground maintenance tunnels were a maze, and without a good memory or a detailed map they surely would have gotten lost.

Now that they had taken a moment to rest and breathe, they were able to gather themselves. Matt finally released his handbag hold on his little sibling, Setting her against the floor while Hunk and Shiro mumbled things together as they examined the map.

Pidge couldn’t help but snort when Matt said something to her. He looked away sheepishly, taking a moment to take in the situation. He had found his sister, Shiro hadn’t told him about her being one of the paladins. He made a mental note to speak with him later about it, but as he turned to look back at his little sibling, there was no sparkle in her eyes.

He had never imagined his reunion with his sister would be like this. She couldn't even hear his words, and he didn't know how to communicate with her, the most they could do was hug each other.

Finally, as he sat there, Pidge turned to him and spoke in a very uneven voice, the expression on her face made it clear that she definitely didn't enjoy doing so, “Do you want me to teach you sign language?”

He sighed in relief, finally glad to break the tension between the two of them. He nodded, turning his body to face her. He took that moment to really take a close look at his baby sister. She definitely hasn't grown much since he had last seen her, if at all. The hair was new, and he wasn't quite clear on the whole Pidge thing, but it didn't really matter. He felt a pang of sadness twist in his gut as he looked into her eyes; they were so different than they had been when he had left the house that day.

On earth, before everything happened, she had been bright and full of life. She had always been a bit harsh with strangers, but she had always been fun and happy with the people she really liked. He recalled the fondness she would look at the whole family with, the glint of constant mischief in her eye. That was all gone, however. The eyes that looked back at him didn't hold that same emotion. Instead, her face was tired. Bags on bags made her eyes look swollen, grime having gathered up on her face. There were still remnants of dried blood clinging to her hair, and he couldn't help but cringe at the bruises and scratches that lined most of her exposed skin. 

The two of them stay in the corner in silence as she taught him the basics he needed. The Holt siblings had always been wiz-kids. They picked up quickly and Matt had no trouble learning the hand signs, and as he learned more signs, they told each other of their lives since they both separated when Matt went to Kerberos.

Matt soaked up every word about what had happened to Pidge, exclaiming outloud and high fiving her whenever she did something particularly illegal.

Hunk smiled as he watched the two of them, recognizing a flicker of light in Pidge’s eyes as happiness spread across her face. It was a kind of happiness Hunk had never seen her wear. He wondered if she smiled like that more often before Matt and her father were captured on Kerberos.

His musings about Pidge’s life before them were interrupted by Shiro saying his name.

“-Hunk?”

“Hm?” The yellow paladin said, looking sheepish when Shiro gave him a look that told him he should have really been listening.

“I said that we should probably get going now, those guards will figure out we must have turned off at some point and come back looking for us, so we shouldn't stay put long. They might already be on their way back.

I was asking if your could carry Pidge on your shoulder, seeing as I don't imagine she enjoyed Matt’s method very well, and I don't like the idea of her trying to keep up with us in her condition.” The older man said, crossing his arms and looking over the two siblings signing to each other in the corner. Hunk couldn't help but note the small, somewhat fond smile he wore as he watched them.

Nodding, he approaches the pair, placing a gentle hand on his smallest friend's shoulder. She looked up at him, alert. He made a few quick movements, “ _Shiro says it's time to get going, wanna ride on my shoulders?_ ” He looked at her with a questioning expression and she smiled, nodding.

It wasn't long before everyone was up and moving again, Pidge resting comfortably on Hunk’s shoulders, using his head like a table and resting her elbows on him, her head being supported by her hands.

She wanted to speak, to hear, to be useful. At the moment, she felt like luggage, and she took a deep breathe, blinking away a pair of tears that threatened to smudge her glasses. She closed her eyes for a brief moment; she had never been a religious person, her family wasn't very religious in general, but as she sat on her friend's shoulder in the silence aside from the constant ringing she had learned to tune out, she let out a quiet prayer to any powerful deity that might exist, _Please let this be temporary. Please let me still be useful to them, I don't want to abandon them again._

If Hunk heard the minuscule whimpers from the girl around his shoulders, he did her the courtesy of not pointing them out.

 

Eventually after many turns and brief team huddling around the map every few steps, the team reach a small small door, and Shiro placed his galra tech arm onto the panel. Pidge smiled to herself when she thought back to how she had managed to adjust the signature code of the arm to prevent another incident of it registering as an escaped prisoner.

Truthfully, she loved working with Galran and Altean technology. The strange and advanced tech of the castle alone still had things that stumped her, even after Coran’s many patient explanations. It was incredible to her, instead of being frustrating. On earth, she had picked up everything so easily, but the Alteans were so advanced from a human standpoint that it would stump even her, and she found it fun to challenge herself with the tech.

She had often spent much of her time on the castle alone or in the command center with Coran, digging into tech she picked up during missions or listening with every ounce of attention to Coran as he explained each function of the ship to her.

The corners of her mouth began to turn downwards until her fond smile had turned into another sad frown. Her emotions were in a turmoil, and she couldn't halo but feel an insecure and guilty tug at her gut that told her off for focusing so much on her personal problems with the state of everything. She pushed it away, fighting back prickles of insecurities.

There had been a time when she had serious self-esteem issues, but she had learned to accept herself. Still, it was hard to fight down the feelings of being a burden when she couldn't do anything but wallow in self pity. She could still fight despite her hearing if it wasn't for the dizziness that overcame her whenever she slightly exerted herself, and she hated it.

Thankfully, she was dragged from her self doubt as Hunk lowered himself closer to the ground, indicating for her to climb off his shoulders. While she had been musing, the team had left the maintenance tunnel, the small door having led into a corner of a large hangar bay.

It resembled most of the Galran hanger bays she had encountered, full of small fighters at the ready for defense or offense, but there was also a large centerpiece to the room. A large ship took up the center of the hanger, and even from the distance, it was intimidating.

The outer shell was a sleek black plating that gave off a purple highlight as the light hit it. For weaponry, a small plasma cannon was mounted to the underside of the ship, a pair of laser Gatling on either side of the cockpit. The most noticeable part, however, was the satellite dish-like object protruding from the top. It was integrated into the hull, the dish part embedded into the hull above the cockpit, a sharp antenna protruding from its center, the dish a stark white, contrasting with the ominous blackish purple that coated the rest of the ship. The heavily tinted cockpit itself was hardly distinguishable against the color of the ship, only noticeable by the faint outline of the crack where glass meets metal. Aside from the weaponry that interrupted the sleekness of it all, the ship was in the shape of a pod, a few holes interrupting the smooth texture, and Pidge assumed that was where the thrusters were located.

The presence of the ship alone gave the entire hanger a strange vibe, like even the machines in the room were unwelcome, and the energy radiated off the ship in waves. It washed over them in a way that made Pidge nauseous, and she could tell by the expression of her largest friend that he wasn't enjoying the atmosphere much either.

The team was huddled in a far corner, despite the fact the room seemed otherwise empty of any presence. They all felt the urge to be as far from the pod ship, but Shiro Insisted they rest in the hanger. Though uncomfortable, it seemed empty, and even if there were sentries wondering the place, the fighters provided a lot of visual cover from any searching eyes.

Hunk was the one to bring up Shiro and Matt’s mission, seeing as they clearly hadn't been expecting to run into the two paladins.

Shiro sighed, stating that it would be easier to start from the beginning, where he had first come into contact with the rebels after being vanished. Matt nodded, letting the taller man speak, he would add in his part later.

As Hunk translated for Pidge, she gave him a soft and thankful look, silently thanking no one in particular in her head for allowing her to have him as one of her friends.

“After the battle with Zarkon, I woke up in a prison cell. My memory around that time is kind of funny, and I get the feeling the galra had me pretty drugged up. I do have vague memories of… experimentation. I guess I must be their favorite test subject,” He joked, but his face was slightly strained and Pidge couldn't help but see the way her brother looked away when Shiro’s hand unconsciously found its way to his right shoulder, “It starts clearing up when I got rescued, but I was still pretty out of it at the time.”

Matt spoke up this time and Hunk sighed in relief when the young rebel took up signing, giving the big man’s arms a break, “We were under orders to rescue a member of our squadron at the time, he'd been a mole for us before he was caught. It was completely coincidental that we found Shiro as well,” He smiled, reaching up to pat his old friend’s shoulder before bringing his hands back down in front of himself as he continued, “I didn't quite recognize you at first though.”

Shiro’s face twisted into a grimace, though not completely without a hint of playfulness as he punched the ginger boy’s arm a little too hard, “No kidding, you actually punched me.”

“I didn’t recognize you! It's a perfectly reasonable reaction to punch a stranger when they start screaming your name and hugging you,” Matt teased and Pidge held her hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle at the abashed expression on Shiro’s face as he stammered.

She had never met Shiro prior to after he arrived back on earth, but she had known how deeply rooted the relationship between him and her brother was. He had been one of the first friend’s her brother had made during his first year at the garrison, and he had always told stories about the things they did whenever he'd visit. She found it amusing how serious and mature Shiro was, knowing the trouble he and Matt got up to during their first year at the school. She remembered back to when she had walked in on her mother having a fight with Matt over the phone one night after he had gotten into trouble at the garrison, she remembered how she had insisted that Shiro was a bad influence. He and Matt really straightened up in the middle of their second year, though when asked her brother never really explained why. He had vaguely brushed her off and told her that “things had happened”, and left it at that. She wondered if he’d disclose the events of that year now.

“Regardless,” her brother continued turning away from his friend, “After I punched him, we got him and my squad mate back in one piece, but Shiro really took his sweet time recovering from whatever happened while he was drugged up. He said a lot of things in his sleep the first few nights, he talked a lot about this Princess,” He trailed off, looking smug when Shiro grew flustered again, his first connecting with Matt’s arm again. This time, the shorter man winced at the punch, an expression appearing on his face that vanished too quickly for her to read as he looked up at him, “Try not to break my arm, my man,” He laughed, but there was a twinge of something different in his voice before he continued on, ignoring the confused look Hunk gave the two, who were now exchanging a silent look of tension, a strange and sudden switch after the two had so playfully been teasing each other.

“After Shiro finally got his lazy ass out of the medbay, he got put to work pretty quickly,” his teasing was lined with something slightly more aggressive, and Hunk shifted uncomfortable under the shift in atmosphere, while Pidge only glanced up at him in concern, not having been able to catch the subtle tone differences between the two, but eventually it seemed to dissipate as Shiro went into a description of his first week training with the rebels.

“Captain Andes is like the princess times two when it comes to her training, she had me and Matt working every day from the time we woke up to the tine we went to bed,” Shiro was back to smiling, the sudden tension between the boys gone as quickly as it had appeared as they sat next to each other, “She has a good reason, they're facing some tough stuff. Despite Zarkon’s death, the empire isn't taking it easy.

“That's why they sent us out here to do some reconnaissance. It seems like the druids have found a very effective method of weeding out moles, they keep losing contact and we have yet to locate a single one of them. Matt and I have been assigned to this system because it's such a major prison, but we've been monitoring the incoming ships and inmates for a good week and a half and haven't seen a single sign of our missing guys,” He paused to look over the two other paladins, “We didn’t know you two were here either. Is… is anyone else from the team here?” Matt noticed the hint of apprehension as he watched his friend speak to his team.

Hunk and Pidge exchanged a look before Hunk sighed, “Oh boy,” he murmured under his breath preparing himself to fill his former leader in on the details. He began at the point in which Keith flew the black lion for the first time as the black paladin. Shiro’s face began to contort into something nearly unreadable as the yellow paladin continued, finally raising a hand to interject, a frown creasing his face, which looked far too old for his young age, in concern and a hint of anger.

“Wait a minute, say that again?” He said, staring at Hunk.

“Keith was hurt pretty bad?”

“No, Hunk, the part about the fur.” Shiro said, an edge to his voice that made the larger man hesitate.

“O-oh, yeah, sorry… when the soldier brought him in, I was a little out of it and it took me a second to realize it, but it was totally Keith. He was covered in puke, and seeing it made me kinda nauseous... “ He started to trail off, tapping his fingers together before catching himself and continuing with the story, “He had fur poking out wherever his skin would have been showing, and he had these big fluffy ears… but it was Keith. It was really freaky, but I started to get really woozy after that and I think I blacked out when they started pulling us out of the room.

“Then me and Pidge woke up in our cell,” He gestured with a nod towards the smaller paladin who watched him speak, eyes wide; he forgot that she had been unconscious when they had been in the throne room and had no memory of the events in it, “Then we- I mean, I,” He smiled apologetically at Pidge who only shrugged, “Heard Lance in a nearby cell. He sounded pretty healthy to me, but someone came and grabbed him.

“Then you guys dropped in,” He finished off the story, folding his arms across his chest, smiling at their two saviors.

Matt responded in kind with a smile, but Shiro didn’t return the sentiments. Instead, the man turned his back to the group with a frown, feeling a tingle around his shoulder where the nerve ending stopped and the galra arm began. His eyes drifted around the hangar, or at least what was visible from their shelter corner, landing again on the pod ship that occupied the center of the room. He narrowed his eyes and turned sharply, looking at Matt.

“Matt, send in a call to the outside team and tell them to send in a bigger ship before retrieval, there’s been a change of plans,” He looked over his shoulder at the pod once more, the waves of discomfort had been growing increasingly worse despite his efforts to tune them out and he felt a draw as they receded each time, like a riptide, “I get the feeling that whatever is up with that ship, it shouldn’t be in the hands of creatures like the galra.”

Matt nodded, already reaching for his communicator. Pidge, however, eyed the former black-paladin with a strange look in her eye. Shiro kept his head turned away, but he could feel her gaze prickling at the back of his neck and he felt his metal fist clench involuntarily.

\---


	7. Toy Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kativan trains, and is hit with his 'past' in a shocking way.
> 
> Lance struggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's!!! A new chapter!!! I put so much love into this chapter I'm so proud of it. I'm mad because it ended so perfectly, lmao, I had like, 2 and half pages left of stuff but I just had to cut it off at that ending, so the rest of it is gonna be the beggining of chapter 7 >:3c

“Wake, my dear boy.”

The sharp, haggard voice pierced through the small galra’s sleep and he blinked his eyes open wearily, taking a moment to gather himself. Turning his head to the side, he focused his yellow eyes on the figure standing over his bed. She smiled sweetly at him as he blearily took in the room, taking a moment to remember the events prior.

“I had a strange dream,” he murmured groggily, still in a state of partial sleep.

Haggar’s smile seemed to crack for a moment before she composed herself again, speaking softly as the groggy, short galra struggled to fully wake himself up, “A dream? Do tell me, child.”

Kativan looked up at the cloaked woman, smiling at her before his face fell into thought as he recalled the dream, “I was flying a ship, and I was surrounded by four other ships just like mine. It’s... fuzzy, but I remember feeling something urgent, like I was forgetting something important I needed to do.

I wasn’t galra either.” He paused, thinking for a moment, “I’m pretty sure the other pilots were the same, some alien species I don’t know of,” he trailed off, something distant in his eyes as the emotions he had felt during the dream washed over him again, “I felt like I knew them, and we had this… this special bond, sort of, but it’s hard to put into words. I thought maybe it was a memory but that wouldn’t make any sense, I’m galra, obviously, but I wasn’t in the dream, but at the same time, it seemed so familiar...”

“Interesting,” The old woman said, patting the galra a little too hard on his head, a vague look of irritation playing across her face briefly, “Very interesting. However, we can discuss much about this later, I have much planned for you today, and some important things to tend to.”

Fluffy ears peeking up in interest, Kativan raised his eyebrows in surprise at Haggar, “Something important?” His face twisted in confusion when she nodded, her hood shifting slightly as she moved, “What help can I be? I don’t know who I am, or even who you are, except that you are my mother. None of this feels familiar, I’m just stuck with what you tell me. I’m… I’m afraid...” He grimaced slightly as he trailed off.

“That's exactly why I need you, my boy.” She smiled, ignoring his look of bewilderment as she continued, moving past him to idly move the blankets back into a neat position, coating her words with an uncharacteristically motherly tone, “I understand how confusing it must be, not being able to remember anything. That's why I’ll do my best to help you fill in the gaps,” She smiled a toothy grin, “In the meantime, it would be awfully boring for you to spend your time in this room, wouldn't it?

I've ordered your guards to bring you to regular training sessions, but I will be accompanying you for this first one. To make sure you're not still injured, of course. We’ll be spending much time on acquiring your lost memories, but we will first start with putting you into a healthy training regime,” She added as she already began walking towards the door, the two soldiers moving to the sides as the door slid open, “And I have someone I would like to introduce you to, later.”

Kativan frowned, unsatisfied by the answer. As they walked, he lost himself in his mind momentarily. He tried to dig at the fogginess that clouded any semblance of memory like a dark tarp, but nothing happened. That dream was the closest thing he had to a memory, but it couldn’t have been his. Not with those pale, clawless, hairless hands the man in the dream had. Not in that ship that was so unlike anything he saw on the small ship. He was intrigued by what Haggar had told him. _Reacquire my memories?_ He pondered the words, _How?_.He subconsciously scrunched his face up in thought as he questioned the implications of such a thing but he didn't speak out loud. Something, though he couldn’t pinpoint what, gave him a nagging feeling to keep his doubts to himself. _She is my mother, is she not? I should trust her_ , he chastised himself.

He felt the weight of everything drag down his shoulders as he watched his feet. He trusted Haggar, but he couldn’t help the nagging feelings that bit at his mind, trying to tell him things he doesn’t understand. He told himself it was likely something normal, something that just happens to people who have some mysterious accident that gives them complete and total amnesia. Anyone would be scared and confused in his situation.

His brain felt foggy, he could hardly determine his own emotions, let alone thoughts. When he tried to think, he only got more confused. Things didn’t seem to add up, but it was all he knew. He had no reason to believe Haggar was lying to him, he was her adopted son, she told him so. She _told me so_ , his brows scrunched up and he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to parse the scrambled thoughts that the muggy mind-cloud covered.

He opened his eyes just as they rounded a corner, approaching a large door. He wasn’t left to wallow in his thoughts anymore as a bony hand found its way on his shoulder, guiding him into the room. As he stepped through the doorway, a dark shape appeared to dart around the corner in the peripheral of his vision, but he brushed it off. It was insignificant enough to have been a mind-trick, and he was now surrounded by the din of young soldiers training with both melee and ranged weaponry in the massive training hall, too distracted to think of it any longer.

He pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind, feeling a rare sense of familiarity in the sound of metals clashing on metals and blasters destroying drones.

\---

Lance stared up at the ceiling, musing bitterly to himself about how cliche his current situation felt. He breathed deeply, attempting to focus his attention on not freaking out like his brain insisted as the restraints attaching him to the lonely table gave him a sense of claustrophobia.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been strapped to the metal slab, but every once in awhile, one of the nameless druids would come in and question him. He had expected them to torture him the first few times. They never did, and he started getting bold. He knew he’d probably pay for mouthing off; but he couldn’t help but bask in the satisfaction of being able to mock them without them harming him. Eventually he concluded that they were under orders not to harm him, and he only got cockier, braver, and brasher after that.

He didn’t move his head when the sound of a door whooshed open hit his ears, didn’t turn to look at the person walking up slowly to him. He didn’t need to, he was very aware of who it was. As he suspected, the masked face of a druid appeared in the corner of his vision, and he opened his mouth to let out some cutting remark, but the only thing that came out was a scream as pain wracked his body.

The druid cackled smugly as the black lightning corsed through the blue paladin’s body. Finally, as the pain died away, the druid spoke maliciously, and Lance could hear the grin in it’s voice, “Good news, Haggar gave permission for us to use more drastic methods. You _will_ crack. You are weak.”

Lance didn’t reply; he didn’t have the chance to. another blast from the druidic magic seemed to boil his insides and simultaneously freeze him, or at least that was what it felt like, and the only thing he could manage was a guttural scream. Eventually, the pain grew so intense, he felt the world fade out as he blacked out.

\---

The sound of knocking roused the sleeping paladin from his bed. As he groggily and grouchily made his way in the direction of his door through the darkness, he prepared a million and one snarky comments to make to whoever disrupted his sleep, only to freeze up in confusion as he saw the figure standing on the other side of the door.

“Hey man,” the blue paladin said softly, his voice was still rough with sleep and Keith concluded he had only just woken up as well, “I wanted to talk to you about something, is it cool if I step in?”

“Uh…” Keith took a moment to shake himself out of his stupor and nodded meekly, stepping to the side and making a gesture into the still dark room.

“Are you gonna turn the light on, or…?” Lance slowly moved forward, looking in mild confusion at the other paladin.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Keith mumbled, flushing slightly as he made a motion to switch the lights on, “I’m a little groggy, it _is_ the middle of the night.”

“Heh… yeah, sorry, I just woke up and something has been bothering me. I couldn’t fall back asleep, it was bugging me so bad, know what I mean?” Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked uncharacteristically nervous, and Keith frowned slightly.

“And you chose to talk to _me_ about it?” Keith said, hardly making an effort to hide his surprise.

Lance stopped and looked at Keith, trying to read his expression, “Well, I mean... yeah… is that alright…?” He asked hesitantly, looking unsure of himself.

Keith blinked, taking the paladin in and opening his mouth, “Uh, yeah, no, yeah, it’s cool. I just, well, didn’t expect you’d come to me.” He paused, “I’d think you’d go to Hunk or something, he _is_ your best friend after all.”

Lance let out a soft chuckle at that, “Yeah… normally, but this is really something I had to talk to _you_ specifically about.”

Keith quirked an eyebrow and folded his arms, making a subtle gesture to indicate that Lance should keep speaking.

“Yesterday, when we were talking about a new black paladin,” Lance started, turning his gaze away slightly, “I started thinking back to when we all fell through that wormhole and got stranded that one time. You and Shiro said that you piloted the black lion to rescue Shiro.”

Keith frowned, knowing where the blue paladin was going.

“Do you think if you tried to pilot black-” He was cut off by Keith, who was now glaring at him.

“Why would I need to? We’re going to find Shiro. No one needs to pilot the black lion because we _are_ going to find him. Besides,I don’t know what Shiro was thinking when he said he wanted me to lead if he-.” He sucked his breath in as the last words slipped out and he stiffened.

“What do you mean? Are you saying Shiro wanted you to be the leader?” Lance stared at him, and when Keith didn’t reply he frowned, “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner? Without a pilot for the black lion, we can’t form Voltron!”

“Why didn’t I? Because I’m not a leader, Lance, and Shiro will be back with us in no time. Plus, we wouldn’t even be able to form Voltron if I piloted black, because then red would have no paladin, so it wouldn’t even make a difference.” Keith refused to make eye contact with Lance, and scowled off to the side.

“It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to find a new paladin for the red lion than it will to find a brand new LEADER.” Lance was getting very irritated at that point, and he couldn’t help but raise his voice.

“We don’t need a new leader!” Keith’s voice jumped a few levels as he got more frustrated, “I’m not a leader. I’m just the team loner, the moody one, I can’t lead Voltron! Not like he could.”

“Shiro thought you could! You’re being pretty selfish you know that?” Lance huffed, folding his arms and scowling at the shorter paladin.

Keith could feel his blood boil in outrage at the ridiculous accusation as his voice raised its volume, “I’m being _selfish_?”

“You’re thinking about yourself right now! Voltron needs a leader, and Shiro decided you have what it takes but you’re so self centered you’re only thinking about how _you_ feel.” Lance shouted, fists clenched at his sides.

“Well Shiro was wr-” Keith’s shout was cut off as the door swished open and a small red haired demon stared up at the pair of arguing paladins with pure murder in her eyes.

\---

The team sat around the lounge, all in some state of disheveled half sleep or groggy state. The main focus of their attention were the two boys standing sheepishly in front of them.

“Run that by me again, guys.” Hunk said sleepily, still fighting off the sleep he had been enjoying minutes ago, “You two wake us up at 2 in the morning shouting at each other… because Keith doesn’t want to lead Voltron?”

“Keith doesn’t want to lead Voltron.” Lance repeated grouchily, frowning at the shorter black-haired paladin.

Hunk blinked, looking between the two before scratching at his brow and sighing, “You’re gonna wanna start from the beginning, Lance, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Lance groaned, gesticulating wildly at Keith, “Keith here says that Shiro told him that he wanted Keith to be his successor, and he never told any of us because he doesn’t want to lead Voltron, like the selfish mullethead he is!”

Allura looked at Keith, who stared furiously at his feet, “Is that true, Keith?”

For a moment, Keith said nothing, then, slowly, he looked up and met the gazes of his fellow teammates, “It’s true. But he’s wrong, I’m not a leader.”

“Keith, if Shiro thought you would make a good leader, then I believe in him. I believe in his judgement,” Allura said softly, “I think you don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Keith sighed, shoulders sagging in defeat and exhaustion, “Look, I’m sorry we woke you guys up. Can we all go back to sleep and talk about this in the morning?” He offered as his body began to remind him that he still needed more sleep.

As if on cue, Hunk let out a long, loud yawn, “I second that, can we talk about all this _after_ a good night’s sleep?”

Allura nodded, a small smile of amusement tugging at her lips, “Yes, I suppose that would be best. You’re not getting out of this discussion, Keith. We will discuss this tomorrow.” She gave Keith a pointed look and stood from the couch, leaving the room. Hunk followed shortly after with a few sleepy, mumbled _g’nights_.

On her way out, Pidge paused in front of Lance and Keith and spoke quietly, “If you two _ever_ wake me up again I will personally rip your testicles off.” Without another word, she left the room, leaving the two boys alone once more (and rather threatened).

As Lance turned to Keith, trying to come up with something to say to the other paladin now that he had cooled off, he was surprised to already see the other paladin taking a step towards him.

It took a moment for Keith’s eyes to finally stop looking at the walls and meet the blue paladin’s, and as Lance began to speak, Keith cut him off before anything could form on his lips, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m just… tired.” He said, brushing past the other paladin and not waiting for a response.

After Keith’s eyes were no longer meeting Lance’s, the blue paladin continued to look after the paladin, somewhat slack-jawed. Keith had been noticeably softening up around the team as of late. More specifically, Lance, but hearing the current red paladin actually apologize for something, to Lance of all people, was something of myth, prior to that very moment.

\---

“Correct your stance! You’re vulnerable with such poor footwork. Focus on the enemy, block out the world around you and keep your mind on the destruction of your foe, you call yourself a Galra?!”

Kativan bounced on the heels of his feet as he adjusted his position, upper body still parrying blows from the assaulting robot. His ears twitched as he listened to the orders being shouted at him as he acted on the offensive when the bot momentarily pulled back to adjust its plan of attack.

He’d been set to work with a pair of scimitars and a bot the second he stepped out of the armory into the training deck, Haggar leaving him in the hands of the drill instructor. His chest heaved as he blocked out the stinging pain where the bot would land a hit.

“You’d be dead by now if this were a real fight, worm! Your moves are obvious, predictable, even a lame yupper whelp could defeat you with those methods.”

His instructor was ruthless, not having let him take a break once during the 4.5 vargas he had been barking insults mixed into orders at the small soldier, even when his chest was heaving as he panted, thankful for the gloves that prevented the furless, sweaty parts of his palms from slipping the blades out of his grip. It’s not like Kativan necessarily expected the instructor to go easy on him; although he had no memories of his supposed soldier hood prior to whatever caused him to lose his memory, he got the impression his kind were not ones to take combat lightly. However, he couldn’t help but feel slightly resentful towards the ruthless methods of his trainer, especially when his muscles were screaming at him and his legs felt like giving out.

He gritted his teeth and endured the verbal berating he received, but as each dobash passed his felt his patience wearing thin with the shouting galra.

“I’ve seen obese infants with better stamina, you’re _pathetic_!”The instructor spat venomously, “How am I supposed to shape something like _you_ into a real soldier of the Galra empire?”

At that, he finally snapped, and with a burst of ferocity and a primal snarl he broke through the bot’s guard, using the left blade to force the bot’s staff to the side, and the other blade to plunge through it’s chest and tear apart the circuitry on the inside. A rush of adrenaline made him momentarily forget his exhaustion as he ripped the blade out and the demolished bot slumped over, swinging around to point the tip of the scimitar at the galra drill instructor.

“Maybe you should test my skills for yourself if you believe they are so terrible!” He snarled at the galra, who stared slightly slack jawed before his face contorted into fury.

Without another moment's hesitation, the galra unsheathed an energy blade from his side, brandishing it aggressively as he stalked towards Kativan, “It’d be my pleasure to beat you to the ground, whelp!” He grinned maniacally as Kativan dropped into a defensive stance, eyes narrowed, “I’ve defeated thousands of foes with this blade, you are nothing to me. I will teach you to respect your elders.”

Not interested in pleasantries, Kativan charged, right-hand blade raised above his head as he prepared a strike, but the instructor was prepared for the blow and deflected it with swift parry, striking out as Kativan stumbled back. The young galra grunted as he parried a blow directed at his legs, snarling as the larger galra pressed his weight into the hilt, making it harder by the tick for Kativan to hold his own. Taking advantage of the size difference, the small galra deflected the blade, speedily moving to the side as the instructor, not expecting the speed of his movements, stumbled forward. Kativan took the brief moment where the instructor regained his balance to aim a blow to the galra’s back, but the instructor had his own surprising speed as he jumped out of the way of the blade, rotating on the heel of his feet to face Kativan once more.

The two stared each other down as the waited for the other to make a move. Kativan panted heavily, breathing growing ragged as the vargas of endless training weighed down his muscles, but he didn’t drop his guard. His eyes flickered over the instructor, who stared back at his with a malevolent glee. The two studied each other, trying to find each other’s weakness.

Realizing the futility of his attacks, Kativan backed away, dropping back into a defensive state to contemplate his next attack. He eyed the instructor warily as they began to circle each other. Kativan had to admit, the galra may have been boasting his skills, but he wasn’t lying about having them, not even close. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew that he would not win the fight. He had neither the skills to match against someone with the deca-phoebs on deca-phoebs of knowledge nor the stamina after the vargas he had spent pushing himself past his limits. He new this, but he would not surrender.He would not let his pride be ruined.

As he studied the galra, he noticed the subtle shift in his posture in the brief moment before rushing at the short galra, and Kativan raised his sword to block the upper hand attack that the instructor prepared. At the last moment, however, the galra shifted his position once more and before Kativan could react and block the blow, the energy blade made contact with his shins and he let out a shriek of pain as his legs finally gave out under the volts of electricity shooting through his kneecaps.

“I warned you, boy,” the instructor sneered as he smirked at the short galra kneeling on the ground, “I think we’ve been training for long enough. Perhaps tomorrow you’ll be more willing to listen to me. Especially after this lesson.” As the instructor walked away, he let out a nasty cackle.

Kativan didn’t look up to watch the galra walk away, choosing instead to remain kneeled on the floor, grimacing at the ground. He had been fully aware only moments after entering battle with the instructor that he was far more outmatched than he had expected, but the loss still stung. He wouldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t burning with embarrassment as he clenched his teeth. As he came down from the adrenaline high, his body began to cry out from the pain of the last 4.5 vargas. That, and the growing welts on his knees where the energy blade had made contact.

He only looked up when he felt a hand gently rest on his back, only to see the hooded face of Haggar, motherly sympathy on her face, “The Instructor has been a strong galra soldier under the emperor for many, many deca-pheobs. I wouldn’t be discouraged, my boy.”

Kativan let a small, grateful smile play across his lips as he wobbly stood to his feet, using the witch’s shoulder as a support. He wasn’t looking forward to the second day of training, knowing full well he would still be very aware of the pain from his first day. Haggar had told him he had not been unconscious for long when he was originally injured,but he couldn’t understand how a galra soldier’s muscles could be so weak after no longer than a quintant or two spent unconscious.. Yet another thing that didn’t seem to add up. As Haggar guided him over to a well, he chastised himself angrily for doubting the truth again, giving his own shoulder a rough squeeze as he leaned against the wall, away from Haggar’s support. He was conflicted, wanting to trust Haggar, and wanting to trust himself.

He chose to trust Haggar, she was the first thing he had seen when he woke up, and the first thing he remembers. As his mother, he trusted her, he felt as though he had to, and so he resorted to mentally punishing himself when he found those doubts to her sincerity rising to the surface.

While he leaned against the wall for support, Haggar momentarily moved away from him until she was just out of earshot within the loud deck.

From where he stood, Kativan watched as Haggar spoke to a tall, masked Druid who seemed to almost appear out of nowhere. The Druid made a motion to one of the doors on the opposite wall of the training deck and after a few more moments of exchanged words, Haggar turned to motion Kativan over.

“That special someone I mentioned earlier has finally arrived. My Druid tells me that his ship is arriving in one of the hangar bays as we speak,” Haggar said, guiding Kativan with a hand on his back, “I have told him of your… recovery, and he cannot wait to reacquaint himself with you.”

Kativan brushed past the strange feeling her statement caused,, instead piquing his interest at the term ‘reacquaint’, “I know him?”

Haggar smiled sweetly, the pressure on his back increasing slightly as they walked, “Ah, yes. You two were friends, very dear friends... I called for him as soon as you woke up, he may be able to fill in your memory, seeing as he knew you so well.”

Kativan couldn’t help but smile slightly at the thought, excited to meet someone from his supposed past and maybe even find something to help him remember his life. He absently rolled his shoulders as a tingling sensation prickled at the skin on his back, mind far more focused on the excitement bubbling up in his chest, “You think I’ll actually start remembering things?”

“We can only hope, my boy.” The witch smiled as the prickling sensation turned sharp and hot, like a thousand fiery mites biting at his flesh. When he jumped away with a yelp, Haggar merely watched him with innocence and feigned worry, “Is something wrong, child?”

Kativan rubbed at the spot in with the pain had been, although it had vanished as quickly as it had come. He glanced around suspiciously, searching for the source of the stabbing pain, but saw nothing but the witch watching him in concern, and he sighed, “No, I think I must have hit a nerve while training, no big deal, I’m sorry to worry you.”

Haggar’s face returned to the almost-sickeningly sweet smile she always wore around the young galra and she moved back to his side, although she no longer guided him with with her hand on his back.

As the two walked, Kativan couldn’t stop himself from drifting off into his head once more.

\---

“K{...}! Take the tunnel to the left, it leads to the elevator shaft! H{...} is waiting with the pod, hurry! Before reinforcements converge on the minor bay!” A strangely distorted, and mildly panicked, voice rang out in his ear as he moved through the corridor. He said something to affirm he received the order, turning his head to look at the presence at his side.

“Did you get that L{...}?” He didn’t realize he was speaking until the words left his mouth, but when he spoke the name of his companion aloud, the name distorted in his ears to the point where even he didn’t know what it was. The same had happened when the voice had given him the directions, but despite that fact the presence next to him ignored the strange occurrences.

“Yeah, we better hurry.” The answer was short, the other was focused on the mission at hand, not bothering to look at him, _What...is our mission?_ , he couldn’t help but think as he examined his companion while they ran. They seemed fuzzy, like looking through a pair of goggles smeared with grease. They were purple, or at least his brain tried to tell him they were, _galra?_ , with long white hair that almost didn’t look real from the fuzzy aura that seemed to surrounded the stranger running alongside him. Trying to squint, he tried to make out details, but it was almost like he couldn’t look directly at the galra next to him. Every time he would try and make out the small details, it felt like he was being forced to look away, he could barely even focus his eyes on the figure. The harder he tried to parse the missing details, the more his head began to hurt.

“K[...],” The galra’s attention had switched over to him and they looked over, voice sounding like it was being put through a filter to change the pitch, “I… we need to talk about what happened yesterday.” Despite not being able to make out the details of their face, he could still tell that his companion was nervous, upset, and even a little hurt.

 _Yesterday? What happened..._.

\---

As Kativan stood in the door of the hangar bay, his face was contorted into discomfort and confusion as he processed the images and sounds that had flashed through his mind in that moment. Haggar stood to his side, watching him with scrutiny, “Is there something wrong, child?”

Kativan took a moment to collect his thoughts before he responded, slow and slightly dazed still from the vision, “I… I think it was a memory,” He hesitated, looking over at the witch, whose face remained void of any emotion except for the calculating look in her eyes. When she didn’t react, he continued, “I was with a galra this time, that’s why I think it was a memory. It… it wasn’t like the dream I had.

In the dream, everything was so vivid and real and clear, but… but this was different. It still felt it was real, or was at least _supposed_ to be rel, if that makes sense. I… I don’t know how to explain it, everything was fuzzy and distorted, like everything was being run through some strange filter before I got to see or hear it, I… I don’t…” He hadn’t realized he’d begun to shake until Haggar placed a bony hand on his arm, a comforting gesture that didn’t feel right in that moment.

“I understand, you must be overwhelmed my boy. Anyone would be, in your situation. I assure you, your memories will likely become clearer.” He didn’t feel reassured by her words, but he offered her a small smile regardless. Unlike with the dream, she seemed pleased with his vision.

“Now,” she said, pattin his arm gently before returning her hand to her side, “The prince’s ship is docking right now.” As if on cue, the secondary hangar door opened, and a large ship slowly encrouched on a group of sentries. Guards for the prince, Kativan supposed.

He turned to Haggar, eyes wide and jaw slightly agape, “ _Prince?_ You didn’t say he was the prince, I… I’m not ready to meet a prince!” Kativan’s ears shifted, pressing to the side of his head as his feet shuffled nervously. His face had become devoid of emotion, but his eyes were panicked now that he knew he was meeting with a _prince_. Even worse, a prince he supposedly knew. _Is he going to offended that I don’t remember him? What if this is a trick and we were actually mortal enemies and he’s going to challenge me to a duel? What if…_

The small galra wasn’t left to worry much longer as his attention was drawn to the sound of the ramp of the shift touching the ground. Kativan’s eye’s widened At the man who walked out of the ship. Tall, purple, and silver hair flowed over his shoulders. Kativan gaped, voice barely a whisper as he stared in awe, “It’s him… from my memory…”

He didn’t see the satisfied smirk his mother wore behind him as he gawked.

If it wasn't for the sudden alarm screeching about rebels and a prison break through the facility, it could have been a wonderful moment for the tiny galran soldier.

\---


	8. Not A Chapter

Sorry, this isn't a chapter, but it's important!

Basically, I'm gonna rerwite it up to this point before I keep going. I've noticed several inconsistencies of mine, several scenes I'm not happy with, several grammar/spelling errors, and I'm just not happy with what I've put together in at least the first 4 chapters, so I'm going to rewrite them. I'm not sure how long it'll take, because I have personal issues rn that might make it difficult, and I'm also thinking of starting a second AU at the same time so... it'll be a while, but like I've said before I will **not** be abandoning this fic, it's my baby.

 

<3

**Author's Note:**

> I might start doing small one shots focusing on the past friendship between Lance and Keith before things went downhill because I'm craving Klance and it's still gonna be a few chapters before we get to anything close.


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